Nothing Better

Four lenses

Look at your day four ways

Most of an ordinary day goes past unseen. Here is one kitchen after dinner. Pick a lens and see what it finds in the room. Then try the same four on the room you are in.

A kitchen after a meal. A woman in an apron washes a plate at the sink, a jug and a red mug on the counter beside her and a striped cloth over the edge. Through the doorway behind her a girl sits at the table finishing her dinner under a hanging lamp, with flowers and a framed picture on the wall. Ivy trails down the tiles by a bowl of fruit.

Pick a lens to see what it notices.

  1. Things. Material. The things you have been given to handle and take care of: what you own, what you use, the work in front of you, the money that pays for it, and how much of it you stopped seeing once you could find it without looking. What is in my hands today, and have I actually looked at it?
    • The ivy, halfway down the wall
    • The tap, worked by feel
    • Fruit going soft in the bowl
    • The plate under the tap
    • The counter, wiped down twice a day
    • The jug still to do
    • The cloth, still damp
    • The rug, walked over all day
  2. Body. Physical. The body you live in and the hour you are in: whether you have slept, whether you have eaten, whether you have been outside today, and what it has been saying all day while you talked over it. What is my body telling me that I have been overriding?
    • My hair has been up all day
    • My shoulders are up by my ears
    • My fingers have gone pruney
    • I have been on my feet since 6
    • I never sat down with it
    • I have not looked up in an hour
  3. People. Relational. The people you live among, close enough to touch: the ones you chose and the ones you were given, and how easily any of them stops being a person and becomes part of the room. Who is in front of me that I have been treating as scenery?
    • She made me this for Mother's Day
    • My husband brought these just because
    • She could have gone to her room
    • We were all here 20 minutes ago
    • He was sitting right there
  4. Heart. Emotional. The voice nobody else hears, running under the other three: the delight as much as the dread, the affection you never explained, the resentment you have been keeping accounts on, and how much of it you have never once put a name to. What am I carrying that I have not named?
    • I have not looked up in an hour: Later than I wanted. Again.
    • My fingers have gone pruney: This part I actually like.
    • She could have gone to her room: She is still here. I should go sit with her.
    • I have been on my feet since 6: I just want to sit down.
    • She made me this for Mother's Day: She made me this. I love her so much it frightens me.
    • We were all here 20 minutes ago: Nobody left hungry.
    • My hair has been up all day: I keep meaning to cut it.
    • He was sitting right there: He ate and went upstairs.
    • None of it shows.
  5. All of it was already there. The lenses did not add a thing to that kitchen. Ask the four questions tonight and see.