The upside of power cuts

When I woke up this morning and looked at the alarm clock I smiled. As I turned on the lamp in the semi-darkness I grinned. I padded off to the shower where I positively gurgled in pleasure at the feeling of the hot water on my skin.

Why so exuberantly happy? Because all these things depend on electricity and we had a power cut last night. And there’s nothing like loss to make you appreciate what you once took for granted.

But in the spirit of staying present and facing what is happening in any moment I tried to make the best of the power cut — an opportunity for practicing santosha (contentment)!

So when the power went off around 6pm I gave up on the general household tidying I’d been doing, and used this as a great excuse for candlelit yoga. Just me moving and breathing in the gathering gloom. It was really beautiful. So beautiful that when Hubby came home from work he just tiptoed around me in baddha konasana trying not to break my atmosphere. Once he realised we had no electricity he did the only decent thing and took me out for dinner. We lingered after our meal luxuriating in the artificial light — and working on a piece of his writing together (deadline the following day!).

Then home. Still no power. But it’s surprising how much even a single tea-light illuminates. Bed time with the room filled with candles was quite lovely.

So I’m very happy to be back to normal today with all my mod cons, and now I find I have the added joy of feeling slightly surprised by, and grateful for, each on-switch I use. It’ll be temporary I know, but it’s nice right now.

And as a complement to this feeling of appreciation after a loss, I’m feeling physically much better now after a couple of weeks of bad achiness. So I’m also appreciating the absence of so much physical discomfort.

It’s nice to reflect on this and share with you quickly before I head off to work and almost inevitably lose myself in the melée of office work.

Have a great day, all, and enjoy the simple things along the way!