Oh gee- evidence that old age is setting in and my modus operandus needs tweaking was indicated when two bits of information came to my attention this week.
The first came from my new friend Richard Grant (author of Dispatches from Pluto which is a must read). This guy is hilarious but one statement he made over lunch got my attention – Big Time!
He stated, “When people start to judge other people (usually for being different from us) and situations (usually caused by our changing world). they cease growing.” Oh Lordy, I’ll never get back to my 5’5″ which has shrunk to 5’4″. This bears out my new theory that judging people causes decline in height.
He didn’t say it but I knew what the logical result of the aforementioned habit is that you become an old curmudgeon who no one wants to be around. As Richard was making this statement I was busily judging a woman at the next table who was wearing a bra and jeans and had at least a half million tatoos. I was so distracted by high level “Judging” that I couldn’t eat lunch.
Next I began judging a lady across the room who was wearing pajamas. Now that I think about it my outfit bore a startling resemblance what i was wearing. At least mine were a tasteful boring black and hers had teddy bears imprinted from top to bottom. Well, I never.
Stop! I almost shouted it out loud. I tried to pick out one good quality in the tatoo and pajama girls. The “Tat” lady had great hair and pajama “Mama” had a sweet smile. Suddenly they looked entirely different to me.
Maybe we should try this trick when we look in the mirror and see an uneven lip line and that red spot we’ve been covering up for 40 plus years.
The second tip came from a book I’m reading called “The Art of Imperfection”. Somewhere the author stated “The magic happens outside our comfort zone.” No wonder the magic has been missing since I subscribed to Netflix and began wearing pajamas everywhere. My comfort zone goes with me!
So. I retired the pajamas forever. I’m reserving all elastic for Saturdays which will forever be my comfort zone day, I don’t care what anyone says. Let’s face it, a human can only stand so much Magic.
And I’ve found that every person alive and 90 percent of situations contain one really great point to cherish or admkre