Everything Matters??

Living gratefully today, I give thanks for the safe travels and enjoyable family time we shared this weekend, and also for the beautiful weather.

I went for an early morning run yesterday in Sioux Falls and noticed a sign by a convenience store that simply said “Everything matters.” It immediately got the wheels turning in my head. Who chose those words and why? What did they mean?

What I though of first went something like this: If everything matters all the time, I’m pretty sure we would all be feeling overwhelmed and keeping a frenetic pace. And we would also be paralyzed and quite stuck, not knowing what to do next and where to put our attention. It wouldn’t be very effective or healthy. In ways, we are already at this place.

I wondered if the choice of words was meant to spark political debate, environmental concern, kindness to all living things? I will never know. What I do know is that it directed my thoughts as I kept running. When I am spun up and overthinking, it’s because I have landed on everything matters. I have to do this and this, and send that email, and make sure not to forget that appointment, and make sure I finish that. And on and on.

When I reach everything matters, I have lost presence and focus and will end up wasting energy if I can’t find my way back to the task at hand, which is the only one that needs my attention now.

I kept running yesterday morning and thought of my dad. It was already 24 years ago, October 23, 1998, when he woke up to his last day of earthly life. I miss you Dad and I want you to know your legacy is thriving.

And as I approached the retaining wall in today’s featured photo, a rabbit ran with me for a few strides, almost at my eye level, before darting off in a different direction. That rabbit matters and our shared moment mattered. If I don’t get outside my own head and pay attention to the world around me, I miss these special happenings that help me feel connected to a wider sense of being.

Yes, everything matters in some way at some time. Not in all ways all the time. Living gratefully and taking time to pause allows me to discern what matters now. It’s a good place to start.