We so often want things, people, places and experiences to be extraordinary. Ourselves too. We focus on something and by sheer force of will want it to be more than it is. This takes a huge amount of effort and if we do manage to create the illusion of extraordinariness, a lot of stress to maintain.
Seeing things as they are, for what they are, celebrating the ordinariness of things allows us to appreciate the world and people around us without effort. And this makes for a much healthier emotional approach to life. My teacher once put it into these words: “The English word ‘just’ is a wonderful world. It’s just a piece of cake, not a substitute for anything. It’s just a job, not who you are”.
Next time you are caught up in the stresses and dynamics of life, take a step back and see if you can find the ‘Just-ess’ of the situation. And then ask yourself if it couldn’t be dealt with just as easily if you recognised it’s ordinariness.
Ian Bell, Project Manager Raison d’Etre
