“Use the Present Day with Luck”
When you can finally slow down to capture more pleasures in each day, home and life take on a whole new meaning. Our culture is becoming such a rush-rush-rush society. Being rushed doesn’t seem to make anyone happier or more accomplished. It usually seems to just bring more anxiety.
I learned a lot about our tendency to keep ourselves busy when I moved to Germany, as many of you know through the months of revelations I’ve shared on Making This Home. The moments in life make all the difference, and gosh we’re lucky to have so many beautiful minutes.
Martin and I were racing for shelter in an enormous rainfall this weekend when I caught this right beside me, clearly telling me to enjoy the rain and the moment:

It’s always confusing to see and hear German or English when I do not expect them. A German poem in a public space in the US?
Here’s the same stanza in English:

I’m leaving you with that today. So use the present day with luck!
What are the simple things you are slowing down and enjoying today?








July 13th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Believe it or not, I am savoring putting my closet in order. I removed everything, added some shelves, cleaned and painted it, and now I am enjoying putting everything away.
Cheers!
Laura
July 13th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Thanks to both cars in our household being repaired (not by choice) at the same time, I’m working from home today which is such a breath of fresh air – literally and figuratively. THe rainy weather, which I love, is making it so darn pleasant to sit on my back porch and work. Yay!!
I gave you a shout-out on today’s blog post! I’m such a fan of your journals. :)
July 13th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
finally… finished my last work-work (the paid one!!) project…
I can begin vacation – ummm, decluttering? (no not today – the sun is out); reading (ummm… maybe – several library books are due of Friday); meditating & being outside YEP! I pick this one. The birds are dive-bombing the hummingbird feeder so I guess I should go out there and supervise….
How long are you & martin in the US???
July 13th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Thanks for reminding to slow down. I took a nap today – and it was glorious!
I’ve hopped over to your blog every now and then during the past few weeks (are you by any chance also a fellow flyer of Kelly?). I’ve made your experience the other way round, as a German in the US. I wish I had started blogging way earlier!
July 13th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
evening walks with my dogs in flip flops (me, not them) they are 14. slow walks… very relaxing.
July 14th, 2010 at 6:52 am
Thank you, Jane!
Christine – that’s a question we don’t even know the answer to!
Katie
July 19th, 2010 at 9:03 am
The German quotation is part of a poem of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a poem which is dedicated to the United States and starts with the words “Amerika, du hast es besser” (America, you are luckier? – it is always hard to translate poetry. The first verses are quite well-known, the rest not so much. How funny to find it there!
July 19th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Thanks Hilde! The author of the poem was not on that board, which made me very sad. Thank you for the poet’s name.
Katie