A Note to Self

It's as simple as this, really:

- Wake beside your beloved.
- Take in the sky, the air, the atmosphere of the day.
- Eat fresh breads and eggs and yogurt.
- Sip hot tea or coffee or chocolat.
- Give something to the world, to our fellows: fellowship, even if only by way of a smile or a coin.
- Listen when someone speaks to you.
- Buy the fish if the body is craving fish.
- Invent dressing for the salad from the ingredients you have, whether or not they are the ingredients you want.
- Wash the dishes if you enjoy a clean sink. Feel the silk of the warm, soapy water over the hands.
- Drink cafe au lait from a bowl if you desire cafe au lait.
- Walk without running even when the sky bursts open with rain.
- Buy a fresh baguette when the other is less than half a loaf.
- If the hairs on the floor start to distract you, sweep them.
- When there is dancing till dawn and you are loving the dance, then dance till dawn, even when there isn't a taxi or metro to return you home.
- Gaze. Gaze all day if it is a day for gazing.
- Finish the pot of honey knowing there is more honey.
- Cry when it comes time to leave, if you are sad about the leaving.
- Let it go, that the table is rocking, or positioned on a slant. No harm is coming of it, no harm done.
- Have another cup of tea.
- When the mood strikes to go out, go out.
- If there is a movie calling to you, see the movie.
- If a friend asks for counsel or simply an ear and you can give it generously and without regret, give it, wholeheartedly.
- Have a beer.
- Buy the 2000 St. Emilion--forget about the cost. As long as there is money there for spending, don't think about the money: enjoy it. It is a resource, not a fixture, not a piece of furniture.
- Adore the caressing, giving, receiving: surrender to it when it insists.
- Make beautiful, sweet, passionate love.
- Do it again.
- Paint pictures with your eyes, with the help of your heart.
- Sculpt what the hand caresses. Let the fingers record the measurements.
- Rely on the infinite supply the soul willingly provides.
- Hug--as often as you can accomplish it.
- Give way. Give way to the air, the rain, the sunset, the dawn, the stirrings of the heart, the curiosities of the mind, the cravings of the body.
- Watch, from above, the tops of the raindrops: watch them fall.
- Be willing, ready to be amused by the skateboard's painting twin black ribbons perfectly, uniformly on the rain-spotted sidewalk.
- Turn up the heat if you're cold.
- Pat the dog.
- Love the cat.
- Buy the good tuna.
- Sing! For God's sake, sing. Don't let a day go by without singing.
- Take the sun on your skin, even if only briefly, and the rain upon the tongue, if only because you haven't, ever.
- Find the perfume or cologne that was formulated expressly for you, the scent that is unquestionably yours.
- Speak with your eyes and your smile if you don't know the language; trust that the heart will do its job. Understand what you do, and don't pretend to follow the rest.
- If the petite boule du beurre a petit dejeuner en terrasse is doux et tout frais, direct from the fermier, take it home. Wrap up the rest and take it home.
- Make room for unexpected kisses in the day.
- Take time to watch the dance of the prayer flags. Take notice of their 5 o'clock shadows.
- Do not lament hours already passed: listen only to the day and what it asks.
- Choose a floor tile color--turquoise, say--that does not need constant sweeping.
- Taste new tastes.
- Know nothing each new day so as to be free to create anything. Let each day be its own creation.
- Play play play play play, even when working. Also when riding the subway train, and in intimate moments with your beloved.
- Find, somewhere, live music and go listen--or make your own.
- Clean the windows through which you see the world.
- Receive gifts graciously and be grateful. Truly.
- Don't fret if the Limoges cracks or the Waterford breaks.
- Smile a grateful and forever love to the man who intervenes by standing, when the beggar who accosted you has consequently stepped away.
- Squat to shoot the coquelicot in relief against the Tour Eiffel.

It is really simple after all, you see? There is no need for pressing or forcing or embellishing. There is so much, always everywhere, ready.