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“We shall not be happy unless we live like good animals, unless we enjoy the exercise of the ordinary functions of life: eating, sleeping, loving, walking, running, swimming, riding, sailing.” —William Morris
The majority of our days of our lives will be ordinary, unwritten about in the annals of history. We woke up, we went to work, we came home, we went to sleep, and then we begin again tomorrow. An ordinary day on the surface, yet those wise to the potential available with each day we find ourselves alive, full of oodles of opportunities to elevate it to extraordinary.
You are one of the sages privy to this insight.
The extraordinary arrives not by claiming awards, climbing to the tops of mountains in our spare time, or closing a multi-million-dollar deal, but in how we savor each day given, engaging with it thoroughly, and realizing all that we have been given.
“I love oatmeal. To me, it’s not boring. I agree that ordinary oatmeal is very boring, but not the steel-cut Irish kind – the kind that pops in your mouth when you bite into it in little glorious bursts like a sort of gummy champagne.” —Alan Alda
Leave it to Hawkeye to remind us how delicious the everyday can be if only we would be mindful about the choices we make that are part of our day.
Living simply luxuriously is all about elevating the ordinary, not into something extravagant and garish, but in tending to the details.
Not every detail of our daily life needs to be elevated, but instead the ones that will make us appreciate, slow down, and pay attention. In this vein, that means we become the artists of our everyday details. Each of us will paint the day’s ingredients differently.
In Morgan Housel’s book, The Art of Spending Money, he advocates for the idea of adopting inconsistent spending habits. A practice that reveals our ability to be independent in our thinking. Yet another necessity for living a life of contentment, and thus a simply luxurious life.
The moment someone dictates concrete details you must have to live well, the first thing a critical thinker does is question their motives. What elevates the ordinary Wednesday in the middle of the work week to extraordinary will involve a quiet night at home for one person and a full house of family and friends for another. There is no specific ingredient list for making the ordinary extraordinary.
The inconsistency shows up in not having to elevate every detail. We can have steel oats as Alan Alda enjoys, but we may drink filtered tap water as our drink of choice at dinner. Spending a lot of money on some things and very little on others is the inconsistent spending approach. Knowing which details fall into which categories is left ot the artist – you.
The skills we need to learn and apply for becoming an artist who is capable of making the ordinary extrardinary will be familiar to regular TSLL readers:
- Conscious awareness – this post introduces one of the benefits of the skill of awareness
- Gratitude – tune in/or read episode #389 to explore further
- Self-knowledge – this post explores how our true self communicates; detailed lessons are taught in TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass of how to become an expert of ourselves
- Critical thinking – a detailed lesson on how to be a critical thinker is taught in TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass
- Open-mindedness – an introduction to being ‘thinking person’ is explored here
When we reside well in the ordinary days, an extraordinary way of life is experienced each day. Each day is special, full of gifts. Each day has potential, even in its frustrations.
As the artists of our day, as was shared in episode #409, we turn living itself into an art form.
episode #409: How to Make Living Itself An Art
We dance with what is given, details over which we have absolutely no control. For example, yesterday the temperature rose to the high 50s, even the low 60s, with a clear blue sky and not a breath of a breeze. Even though my garden porch furniture had been packed away, I seized the opportunity to have one more breakfast outside. Al fresco dining in November! A table and one chair were carried out and plopped down. Extraordinary indeed, and I savored it, and celebrated it by embracing it, even writing this post in the afternoon while the sun warmed the porch and neighbors walked past for Nelle to say hello to.
As much as we notice and choose to adjust our plans to engage with unexpected moments that nourish us, we also become experts at making the ordinary extraordinary by incorporating the details we add. If we love a particular varietal of coffee or tea, we purchase it. If we love to read to conclude each day, we create a snug that invites us to unwind the day well.
The intention we bring to making the everyday extraordinary reveals an individual who thinks independently, lives bravely, and understands the value of quality everydays to then go out into the world and give without expecting applause. The applause may come, the moments defined by society as extraordinary may arrive, but they are icing on a delicious cake that is made with everydays we savor, and yep, look forward to waking up to each day, grateful for the opportunity to do so.
In this post shared in 2022, I shared 13 ideas for being extraordinary at the ordinary.
episode #324: 13 Ideas for Being Extraordinary at the Ordinary
The last piece of being an expert at this everyday skill is to remember to celebrate our habit, our choice to do so. No matter how many motivational speakers, coaches, gurus, and others express or dismiss the idea of being ordinary, the truth is that being extraordinary in the ordinary resides at the heart of living well. Because the extraordinary days happen sparingly, if we dismiss the ordinary, we aren’t living in the present moment, and consequently, we aren’t living fully. We are wanting, we are unappreciative, and we are the source of our discontent.
That last point is good news to be privy to because it means we have complete control over how to become contented.
Over the weekend, Nelle and I went to a local bookshop, sat down at one of the three tables, and played Scrabble for two hours with fellow ‘gamers’. Okay, maybe we aren’t your traditional ‘gamers’, but these folks are whizzes at this favorite analog game that has stood the test of time. I am humbled each time I play with them. This detail in my week is designed to suit my personal temperament, passions, and comforts. It’s not for everyone, but it makes my day feel extraordinarily special.
A moment captured here of the annual ritual of planting the spring bulbs. An ordinary day on the surface, but a special day to me. So, what to do to celebrate its ordinariness? Pour a hot cuppa British tea, pair a few Biscoff ginger biscuits, and get busy preparing for a beautiful spring!
~learn more about all that was planted in the October Gardening post~
Design your days, your weeks, months, and seasons to feel this way each time you step into them, and your life will be long in such a way that you want to have many more ordinary days. This is to be content – you honor your needs, you welcome some challenge to grow, you value pleasures that nourish, and you are grateful for this freedom to design the days as you will.
“It’s amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.” —Ben Stein
When a long-dreamed-about opportunity presents itself, you say yes, not because you want to escape the ordinary, but instead to amplify it without asking for more than what is given. Returning afterward to the ordinary days you have designed will feel a treat, and so each day, every single day will be grounded in contentment.
Wishing you a wonderful ordinary day full of reason to celebrate.
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~Learn more about TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass – the detailed syllabus, trailer, enrollee reviews, and more.
