Stop and savor the world...

 “I arise in the morning torn between the desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day.”  (E.B. White) from my favorite daily blog – Jack’s Winning Words.

I think I might exchange the word “conquer” for “save” in the saying above, but then it wouldn’t have the poetic flow of the original. However, as I get a bit older, I find myself wanting to slow down and savor things a bit more, rather than constantly striving for more and more. I suspect that is a fairly natural thing. When one is younger the appeal and even necessity of achieving more and getting more is strong. I suppose it is the eventual accumulation of what we call wisdom that kicks in and helps dawn the realization that having more things isn’t as important as enjoying the things that you have, with the people that you love.

So a couple of times this past weekend, my wife and I just did some porch sitting. We live in a big, old Victorian home with a screened in wrap-around front porch. It’s the perfect place (especially on the rainy days that we had this weekend) to sit and watch the world go by. I don’t do that often enough these days. The world slows down a bit and life gets a little less hectic when one just sits on the porch for a while. All too soon that respite from the pace of life comes to an end, but is does provide a refreshing break.

So, take a moment in your own life to find a porch or a quiet room to sit in and just relax. If you can, put away your smartphone, turn off your TV, and just sit back and let the world go by. Surprisingly the world does just fine, not knowing where you are or what you’re doing for a few moments and you’ll be able to get by not knowing those things about everyone else, too. Share a porch-sitting moment with me.