I’ve been doing this thing at the Frolicsome Bar.
The Frolicsome Bar is what I call our Facebook page because saying Facebook page depresses me so much that I forget that I actually like to hang out there.
It’s kind of a ritual and kind of a game and kind of a chicken and a bunch of other things all at the same time.
Today I saw…
A perfect place to build a fort. A 70-ish woman lifting huge weights like a total badass. Giant triangles of watermelon (yum).
It’s deceptively simple. Just some things that I happened to see. Not a big deal.
But something about the act of naming them and writing them down turns it into a noticing practice.
Today I saw…
A tiny old woman under an umbrella that was A GIANT SUNFLOWER UMBRELLA.
Two kids playing in their yard brandishing plastic baseball bats that were almost as big as they were — one said: “I am a troll with a club! And I only strike once!”
And a rastafarian aardvark who was really just one guy.*
* Not really an aardvark. During today’s Shiva Nata classes at Rally we invented silly words for the positions, which kept resulting in phrases like “If the sandbox is clear, the aardvark is a rastafarian” (7:2 flipping to 5:4 in Level 2).
So I had the line “the rastafarian is an aardvark!” (4:5) in my head and then I was walking down the street and there was this guy sitting almost in front of the Playground, dreads and a giant hat, and I almost said it out loud.
It’s a communal practice.
It builds togetherness, in tiny, weird, sweet, unexpected way.
Read any of the comments (here or here, for example), and you will love all of our people.
You can feel what our loosely formed community is like. So so great!
Today I saw…
Today I saw: not very much because I have been mostly sequestered inside, but let’s see… I saw a lady doing tai chi, a red tricycle parked in a bike rack and a very crispy grilled cheese sandwich. What about you?
Read the comments because that’s where everyone else’s noticings and discoveries get to play too. It reads like poetry.
Pure creative flow with all the noticings connecting and overlapping, speaking to each other and reflecting each other.
Reading these collective noticings has become its own ritual. It takes me beyond the noticing into this gathering. It’s a place of connection.
And, like with the fountain or the pot, there’s so much power in that moment of acknowledging the noticing.
You start to feel the qualities that infuse our community:
[+Creativity] [+Joy] [+Delight] [+Trust] [+Receptivity] [+Intelligence] [+Hilarity] [+Wonder] [+Flow] [+Play] [+Support] [+Belonging] [+Welcoming] [+Strength] [+Courage] [+Sovereignty] [+Silliness] [+Beauty] [+Surprise] [+Love]
Today I saw…
Today! Today I saw: a stripey cat wearing a green collar (I stopped for a scritching), a gigantic flamboyant yellow rose (stopped for a sniffing) and a hello kitty tattoo behind a girl’s ear. What about you?
It’s not just mindfulness. It’s that combination of mindful and silly, aware and light-hearted.
Some of people’s noticings are poignant, some hilarious, some joy-filled, some sad. They’re all beautifully expressed. It’s a perfect form, in a way.
I feel a rush of happy when it’s time to drop the things I have seen into the bar so we can all share fragments and color from our day.
Today I saw…
A new day, new things. Today I saw: an old and very large tortoise named Herman, a parasol with a skull and crossbones on it, and a cat in hiding. Also I met a 71 year old man who has been going to the same dance class for 31 years (with the same teacher!).
There is something so grounding and reassuring (for me, at least) about ritual. It says: COME IN! It says: STILL HERE!
It’s solid and comforting. It creates spaciousness and containment at the same time. It is a place to play and still have structure and form.
Today I saw…
Things I saw today: a baby swan, six very skinny waitresses, a wet happy dog leaving wet happy dog prints behind him. What about you?
I felt nervous and awkward when I started this daily practice of noticing-out-loud.
Especially since everyone else’s noticings seemed (according to the Grumble Thrum Monster Collective) to be much more entertaining and generally more awesome than mine.
But then I realized that of course all noticings are special, because it’s the act of noticing, naming and appreciating that creates the frame and the experience.
Like seeing a beautiful photograph of something you might normally miss.
Being part of a group of noticers just points out how much is there to be seen, heard, perceived, appreciated.
I don’t know yet what I will see today.
But I will find things, overhear things and trip over things that catch my attention.
They will remind me that beauty is everywhere, that grief and loss are a natural part of change, that surprises hide in plain sight and there’s always a good sign. Or at least an entertaining one.
It would be lovely if you feel like playing with me, whether here or at the Frolicsome Bar. Or both.
I’d love to know what you’ve seen/heard/perceived/encountered. Or how this tiny practice has done good things for you. Or what appeals to you about it.
As always, we make this a safe space by not giving each other advice or telling each other how to be or feel. We make room.
Today I will see all sorts of crazy and delightful things.
What about you? What have you seen today?
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Yay, love hearing you elaborate about this practice. I’ve been playing a bit at Frolicsome Bar, and it’s kind of changed my association with FB (which has previously been fraught with conflict…it still is, but you make it a more meaningful place for me now). It’s totally fitting for FB, too, because it’s a place where people post seemingly mundane, everyday observations and happenings.
But you take this practice to a whole new level. Or as I like to say, you take it to the “HNL” (a la MadTV’s hilarious skit – this one with Hugh Laurie – about taking things to ‘hole ‘Nother Level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJnGRuidOXI).
Today I saw:
A funny license plate that indicated the driver hated our very busy major road: H8 RT 7
A white bunny run out of our driveway as we drove into it (okay, that was last night, but it was cute).
A cluster of construction workers gathered around their blueprints at the major construction site in the middle of the road (they’re building a new metro).
The practice makes me want to get outside more, since I’m realizing I spend a lot of time inside, in the hiz-ows. (Sorry.)
I get your Frolicsome Bar updates sent to my phone, and the What I Saw posts have been especially comforting, deliciously random little reminders to slow down, notice, and be present.
Today, so far, I saw:
–an orange rose tattoo.
–a bright green sticker.
–a cat sleeping on his scratching pad.
–a smooth, cream-colored, inviting sheet of paper.
(Yesterday) I saw a white goat, a Mason Jar full of tadpoles & gleeful young boys holding a bewildered rooster. I also saw purple and green basil. Any day with basil is a good day. 🙂
oxox
Today I am seeing all the things I am grateful for 🙂
I really enjoyed this post, thanks for sharing!
I saw a hummingbird sipping nectar from a yucca plant, a squid squirting ink at me, and the tide racing away in a great hurry, leaving scallop shells in its wake.
Love this.
Today I saw:
–that blue in the sky and our great lake that usually only happens in the Fall.
–a big fat orange cat gallop across our back lawn, as a gold finch complained loudly.
–a girl in a perfect 80s flounce skirt and a straw fedora, worn with utter ease.
And now I see that I am not really SEEING nearly enough of my surroundings, though I consider myself quite observant. Time to start a new type of journal, I think.
Today I saw:
Sun. It’s been raining here for weeks!
Thanks for this post!
I’ve been playing along at the frolicsome bar too and I love it. How can one be bored when there is so much to see! Even in my house. Even in my room. Even on my body.
Today is my artistic genius Mom’s 68th birthday, yay! We are celebrating at her 100+ year old rock farmhouse in the plains of SE Colorado. Usually not my favorite place to be — oh, the heat and the wind and the no-mountains-anywhere-ish-ness of it + bugs. eek.
But I’m noticing. I noticed how little she looked in her big white plush robe. I noticed how she surrounds herself with colorful things always, even when sleeping. I noticed how her eyes twinkle even when her body is shaking a little bit from the tired and the cancer. I notice how she never leaves the house without perfectly applied lipstick. I notice the striped and flounced happy skirt on her body and the straw hat on her head. I notice that she let me sleep, even after she found her birthday cards in the refrigerator and on the stairs and peeking out from under the rug. I notice that she misses her mom. I notice that I’m going to miss her. I notice the pretty designs she put in her concrete patio in 2006 and the colored tiles and the whimsy. I notice how she loves every inch of this place and it shows.
It is good to notice.
Today I saw:
-a new perspective on a pattern of long-standing pain.
-how the holly berries are already nearly full grown (if still totally green) on the tree outside my balcony.
-a squirrel anxiously peering over the edge of the roof (what was below?).
This practice reminds me of the naturalist ritual called ‘story of the day’ – something I’ve been wanting to include on my blog. Eventually. 🙂 Thanks!
Today I saw a robin and a cardinal having a conversation on a stone walkway; a piece of construction equipment that looked exactly like a penguin sitting on the sidewalk when I was a block away from it; two loaves of bread cheerily rising!
I love this. Lots of thoughts swimming too. Time for some dancing to shake ’em down.
Today I saw:
a piece of amethyst beach glass stamped with stars
a secret stairway to a lush green meadow
some friends sitting in a doorway, laughing at a joke only they could hear
Thank you… I loved this.
Today, I saw birds fooling around in the crown of a tree- very playful;
I also saw a weirdly shiny pair of eyes when I looked in the mirror once;
And the last thing that has stuck to my mind is full moon that I was granted to see after work! What a sight! It pleased my eye, it really did- but I also remember recognising that it didn’t penetrate my heart… nothing melted in me, nothing leapt; I marvelled, but only somehow superficially.
This is all that I can recall from today.
Quite amusing that most of us saw on average three things worth mentioning! Not more, not less! Apart from Kim’s poignant and very deep account of a family celebration- I loved that post and partly understood her feelings.
I have been very much enjoying your Today I Saw. In fact, I’m kind of thinking about doing it on my own FB page… it is simple, beautiful, silly and good. I like it a lot 🙂
My momma crouched over, hands on her head
And hurting.
It was hard to see.
But I would rather see it than not see it,
Since it is
And she is beautiful.
Today I saw a thoughtful-looking baby hanging out with his grandpa; four retired men sitting at separate tables at the bookstore café and conversing between tables; a man reading aloud from Heningway; black socks with hula dancers embroidered on them; lingering twilight.
Today I saw a spiderweb glistening with raindrops and bright orange apricots.
I love the idea of a Sunflower umbrella. I should get me one of those 🙂
Today I saw a car driving itself. I also saw men standing on a roof, and bagels in a bedroom.
I came up with a variation of this…on my walks to work, or home from work, I try to look for One Amazing Thing. Could be beautiful flowers, or a strange piece of street graffiti, or the way the light comes through the trees. Sometimes one things is enough!