Bouncy Ball Adventures

I know this may be a slightly random post, but it feels like something I should write about today. I was talking with a friend yesterday about my visit with my family last week. For a few great days the house was filled with the energy of two kids who were so filled with wonder and enthusiasm, that is was simply infectious. She said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could go through the world like that now?"  And, I think, yes. Yes, it would be. In fact, in a lot of the meditation books and "being in the now" texts I have read over the last few years, that is in fact one of the major suggestions to living in present moment awareness. Behave like a child........no fits or temper tantrums, but behave like a child with a sense of wonder and curiosity as you move through the world. Look at things in new ways. Each time you take a walk, even if it is along the same path you've walked everyday for the last five years, observe it with curiosity and wonder.

I love that notion, and I really do think it is the key to living a great life with eyes wide open.

For almost two years, the exercise ball I happen to own, has sat idle in the basement, stationed behind the couch, and relegated to the category of rarely-to-be-used-at-home-exercise-equipment. When my niece and nephew (ages 8 and 3) visited the house, we brought it up to the backyard for them to play with. My nephew, Rafe, spotted it in the basement, and rightfully assumed it was just a big fun ball and not a torturous exercise contraption. While here, it was the center of attention many days while we played in the yard. They both bounced on it like fools, draped their bodies over it, balanced on it, and rolled around on it gleefully day after day after day.

Now that they have gone back home, the ball has remained in the yard. I decided to follow their lead over the last few days. That ball hasn't seen so much action in years!

Last night, for about an hour after dinner,  John and I took turns seeing how long we could balance on it with hands and feet in the air. I won with a record 60 seconds of really exquisite, graceful balancing. I lay on it on occasion, sit on it in the sun during a break from design work, and even draped my body over it this morning with back arched and head resting on the ground, at which point, this is what I saw.

It was our backyard, unfamiliar, upside down, and so new to my eyes. I think the ball may need to stay out for a while.