Naming the Days

Today, I am sassy, spunky, spirited and snowbound. I have been snowbound since yesterday, and may be snowbound tomorrow as well. This morning, as I realized that I was “in” for the day, I felt the weariness of another nondescript day coming on. “No!” I thought, which was very sassy, spunky, and spirited of me. “Today is going to be Different.” Yes, instead of calling today its traditional, long-established name, Tuesday, I named it “Different.” Naming the days is a tool I was introduced to many years ago, but I haven’t done it very often. It requires presence of mind to focus on the name of the day, and pay attention to the ways it manifests itself and proves the name true. One day many years ago, a day I called “Surprises” was very memorable. But, you may be wondering, was today really Different? Yes, it actually was. I didn’t rush. I took my time, and wrote a really long prayer dealing with every issue that had been on my heart and weighing me down. Then, I read and worked on projects for my classes for several hours. I can’t remember when I got so much done and it felt so effortless. It was Different. I even planned a new class for next fall. I am ahead in my work. That’s definitely Different. I paused to bake some cookies in the midst of my work—white chocolate macadamia nut cookies made from cookie dough I purchased in support of a student fundraiser. It took about fifteen minutes from start to finish. My husband had warm cookies when he got home. Different. Then, I decided to give my eyes a break and listen to a book, even though I usually only listen to audiobooks when I am driving. Different. I noticed how hard it was for me to sit still and enter the world of the book. I wanted to get online, straighten the house, etc. After a few minutes, I was able to settle into listening and enjoy the book. After this experiment with naming today Different, I wonder why I don’t name the days more often. There are endless possibilities—joy, mercy, beauty, music, fun, laughter, kindness, etc. Each name helps us to notice the unique blessings of any given day.