We all have an internal ranking system where we put the happenings in our lives into hierarchies of importance to us, which includes rating the profundity of certain events. Specific and circumstantial happenings come to determine how we structure the narratives we use to present ourselves to the world. They also influence decisions of how we spend our time and what we choose to pursue.
Generally, I do not mind doing the new types of work involved with raising my son but the household tasks which were always there, have come to really grate on me. A big one, as we are living without a dishwasher since the last move is washing the dishes, and the dishes regularly pile up, making the kitchen look like a deserted hovel until I bring myself to tackle them.
Bedtime Reading
The other night, I picked up what I thought was a random book from my somewhat eclectic bookshelf to read to my six-week-old baby boy. Not as storytime, but more so he could hear my voice, learn to recognize the tones, and become familiar with the sounds of words. The book I picked up was small and concise, something I considered would be appropriate for an easy read-aloud session.
It was ‘How to sit’ by the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. I was reading the short phrases and anecdotes out to my little one and it occurred to me that I would really like some more time to myself, and would really like to be able to
Coincidences
The books arrived the next day and I opened one of them, ‘The Miracle of Mindfulness’ and began to read. The first page was about a friend of the author’s not having any time to himself due to having a young family, and the second page literally dealt with how to wash dishes so that one gets the job done and done well. I half figured this was something mundane and I was getting excited about nothing through overtiredness, but I felt genuinely upbeat about the unexpected coincidence.
I have since thought that attaching a great amount of significance to these small chance occurrences is probably not the most rational way to approach life. However, it would seem in this case, that my subconscious has given a higher than average value or level of importance to these events. The very fact I am writing about them suggests there has a been a lasting impact.
Concluding Thought
Coincidences are by their very nature remarkable but they are only as important as we perceive them to be. The framework of individual perception is too big a task to tackle in this post; let’s just say the coincidences that have occurred recently in my life have convinced me to pursue my interest in mindfulness in earnest.