Treasure in Disguise
By Laura Mills
Picture yourself standing before a pile of clean laundry, just out of the dryer. How do you arrange the socks—do you ball the pairs, for example, or do you fold them? How do you fold casual tees and shorts? How do you determine which items you hang and which items you fold? Then ask yourself: if another person arranged your laundry for you, one time, but that person arranged your items differently, would you rearrange them YOUR WAY later?
I am no expert at analyzing people’s laundry practices. But I do find great interest in the fact that so many of us, perhaps not even bona fide “fussy people,” maintain very particular standards about a few specific aspects of life—if not laundry perhaps the way we arrange our closets, place paper money in our wallets, store food in our refrigerators, or organize books on our shelves. Maybe it’s something else entirely. Or maybe it’s nothing at all, a particularity in itself.
I offer this as but one tiny, tiny example of just how remarkable each of us really is. We’ve all been told before, I’m sure, but I believe it’s imperative to remember—constantly—that each of us is a vast accumulation of subtle wonders. Picture yourself and all those “little things” about you. Then picture your partner or closest friend, then the last stranger you saw yesterday before going home….
The net time you find yourself face to face with someone new, remember that there’s always something to talk about. Not that you have to talk about your laundry, but only that you are amazing, as is everyone you meet. Then relax and let the good vibes flow.