single-mindedness is not always best

I've been trying to download some music from my computer onto my iPhone for months now. Every time I try, the syncing process gets to a certain point, and then the iTunes program freezes. On a side note, my computer is a dinosaur, and we are entering an ice age here. I have been so single-minded in my attempt to upload some songs onto my phone, that when the prompt box came up telling me the computer detected a camera, would I like to download the pictures, I found it an irritation, and always hastily closed the box.
Then, something, who knows what, happened. I had to do a system restore on the phone. Something went seriously wrong in my attempt this time. My phone just showed a picture of a usb cord and that was all it would do. I had to drive to the Apple store in the mall, (I detest the mall), and have a hipster kid restore my phone to its original settings. "What does this mean?" I ask the Mac Pro. Everything is going to be wiped, he says. Gone. Pictures, text messages, everything. I nearly cried. There were a few photos that were irreplaceable to me.
I looked around the store in a daze. I coveted the shiny new computers that would have let me upload songs to my phone without this heartache.
As I shared what had happened with a friend, she encouraged me that my photos must be backed up on my computer; and then it hit me. What had been a nuisance to me, would you like to download those photos now, would have saved me my precious photos. If in my haste to get to the thing I wanted at that moment, I had taken a moment to preserve the thing that was even more special to me, I would not have lost it all. Which begs the question: How often do we find the important things in life just an irritation, and quickly shut them down? It's an obvious analogy, isn't it? Yet it hit me like a ton of bricks. There was a simple directive to me, which had I just taken a moment to process, would have saved me some grief. Moreover, I still could have tried to do the thing I really wanted to do. What simple but very important directives am I hastily shutting down, in my impatience to get to the thing I want in that moment? What am I sacrificing in my haste and single-mindedness?
Epilogue
I ruin my whole analogy by sharing this little tid-bit, but, well, who cares, you get my point, right? All was not lost. When I had the courage to plug my phone into the computer again, (at a time when I could shoot down to the Mac store should I need to), I discovered something. I was just plugging the phone in to experiment with downloading the one picture I'd taken in the aftermath. This time, when I saw the prompt asking me what to do, I said by all means, download and save the pictures, and quickly. Then, I found to my surprise that when I synced the phone to the computer again, I got my pictures back. And my text messages. Everything. Phew. Needless to say, I immediately saved the photos in a file on my computer, (that I actually knew how to get to). The other moral of this story is that I am not a computer nerd. Even if I put on a pair of skinny jeans I'm going to look and be lost in a Mac store.

Spring Fever in Autumn

Spring ought to begin taking some lessons from Autumn. Don't get me wrong; I love Spring. Flowers blooming, spring rains, the weather warming up and the earth is about to be abuzz with activity after a long winter's slumber are all lovely things. People get antsy to get out, and supposedly, love is in the air.
Autumn is when I really fall in love though. With my self, that is. Not my ego self, but my Self self. The one who is in need of grace every moment of the day. The one who can't keep one thought without another clamoring for attention. Every activity takes on new life. A cup of tea in the fall is more than just tea, it's a ritual. The light is different, as I gaze out the window, the sun has begun a different dance. She skirts around the earth a little more lightly.
What is it about a chill in the air, a different light and Autumn smells that totally changes my psyche? The world seems like such a beautiful place and I am seated at her table in the fall. Is the Harvest symbolism so ingrained in my psyche that Autumn represents harvesting all that the universe has conspired to teach me throughout the year? Is it that I'm collecting gratefully each thought like a cherry tomato perfectly ripe and bursting with flavor? Are my branches heavy with the fruit of observation and realization?
All I know is, life is beautiful, and when I greet Autumn warmly at the door, I usher in my perfectly ripe self. Don't worry, I don't think I've arrived. I'll slumber through the winter and start all over again next year. Next Autumn, I will be surprised anew at this love affair, and sit in wonder at the fullness of life.