I don't know if it's because I've always had small hands so little things fit better or if it's just another in a long list of quirks, but I like really little things.
I remember this toy castle I had when I was little. It had towers and banners and a drawbridge and such, but my favorite parts were the tiny unicorn and Pegasus that went with it. They were small equine even to a five year old.
I've always had an eye for detail. I enjoy looking really closely at things, seeing the minute intricacies. I think the human body, physically anyway, is most interesting on a cellular level.
I think it's good, important even, to pay close attention to small things, to details.
And enjoy them. That's the most important part.
Wiggle your toes. What does it feel like? Are you wearing socks or are your feet under a blanket? What does the fabric feel like? Is the space you're in warm?
Touch your skin. Think about how weird it is that you can feel that contact in two different places. Think about the thousands and thousands of cells in that one spot.
Now touch somebody else. Ponder for a moment how strange it is that that's as close as you'll ever be to another person in this life. You can't get any closer than physical contact and that's weird. You can't be with them like you can God, and that's good, just strange to me.
And the sense of touch isn't the only one that's good for detail-appreciation.
Listen really closely. Can you hear the air move? Can you hear your heartbeat? Have you ever been able to feel and hear your heartbeat at the same time? It's so cool. I wish I had a stethoscope just so I could listen to my own heartbeat. It's a trippy feeling, just to know that you're alive. It's really poetic and enigmatic and all that stuff and it gets really deep really fast so I can't do it for very long, but it's still nice.
And if you're still long enough, concentrating on just being, you get really into noticing things. Emotionally invested. You see a leaf fall and you notice all the colors in that one little bit of nature and it makes your heart ache to know that so much beauty can be held in four square inches of leaf. You hear your cat sneeze and it evokes a surprised burst of laughter because there's something indescribably funny about animals sneezing.
The saying is that the devil is in the details, but I really think God's got a monopoly on that market.
Bugs are a really great example of that. There are bugs that look like plants and bugs that look like other bugs and bugs that look like the stuff of nightmares, but each one is a miraculous accumulation of cells that works almost flawlessly for a very brief span of time for an almost neglegible purpose (individually, put very many together and some work will get done one way or another, consider the ant).
In lots of different yoga exercises the instructor will say to imagine your breath/life/energy flowing into every part of your body. Inhale and let it reach deep down into your toes. Exhale as you rid yourself of bad energy/vibes/thoughts. Inhale and let yourself relax, feel your connection with the ground; exhale and relax your muscles as you imagine your worry being released. Which is sometimes a bunch of bologna, but the idea is kind of nice and actually useful I think.
We should live in and with every piece of ourselves, experiencing everything fully, which might be the most hippy-ish thing I've ever said.
God created the most amazing stuff. I want to stop and look at it.
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