Just To Spice Things Up

Today I happened to be writing the word behavior. At the last minute, I made the conscious decision to spell the word the British way: behaviour. Here on my U.S. computer, that word appears with a red zigzag underneath it, but in the U.K., that's the standard spelling. I like British spellings, so I just thought, why not, you know?

I was writing that word as an answer to a test question. At the end of the same test, the professor included some bonus questions, including his standard fun one: "How do you spell my last name?" He has an unusual surname; a significant number of people have missed this question on the last few tests. I'm pretty confident of the spelling by now, so I decided to take the time to add some calligraphic flourishes to my inscription of his name, including a quick design sketch beneath it, just for fun. When people handed in their tests he immediately flipped to the back to see how many got his name right, and when he saw my little work of art, he laughed in enjoyment. I smiled. I was glad I'd taken the extra time to do something special.

There are so many opportunities to spice things up in life. When I took English composition at college, there was a question on the final exam about form in writing, and a random inspiration hit me: I could write my answer as a poem. So I did. I put the content of my answer into rhyming verse. It gave me a reason to laugh to myself, and man, you've got to take those opportunities where you can get them.

If I'm walking down the sidewalk and there are roses blooming beside the path, I'll pick one and put it behind my ear. If I'm trudging through the parking lot and notice there's a dog in the car next to mine, I'll take a moment and smile at its furry face. If I'm in some boring adult setting and suddenly there's a child wandering through our midst, I'll be sure to look into her eyes and share a split second of quiet connection. Honestly, the world is full of reasons to smile, but do we? Do we take advantage of the chance to make ourselves happy in all the little ways available to us?

It's easy to get weighed down by the stress, pain, and exhaustion of daily living. But I find that if I keep my eyes open, I discover a lot of simple pleasures along the way, and they renew my strength. Next time you're having a day that is miserable, or just monotonous, take a moment to step outside the box and look around at life with fresh eyes. You just might see a dance you can do, a joke you can tell, a rose you can stop and smell... just to spice things up.