Don't miss out on life's bounty

Open your eyes. Open your ears. Open your mind.

We live in a noisy world, facing a flood of information, distractions, and titillations.

But it still amazes me how many people make their way through life without enjoying the riches it offers.

You know the type, the folks who are so busy establishing their "comfort zones" that the list of things they avoid far outstrips the list of things they enjoy.

I suppose that provides a measure of security. But so does a coffin.

When there's a cornucopia of delights - musical, literary, natural, cultural, philosophical, culinary, and more - to partake of, it seems a little foolish to always stick with the safe and predictable.

Take music.

Like most of us, I grew up on popular music and was convinced that the particular brand of rock from my youth was the high point. It wasn't until I was an adult that jazz caught my ear, and a little later I began hearing classical music in a way that made me wonder why I had been deaf to it as a kid.

And there are still new horizons to discover.

A year ago, on our last day in South Africa, my friend Gyles took us to his favorite music store in Cape Town, handing me CD after CD that I would have a hard time finding in the States. By the time I reached the checkout counter, my hands were full.

But now, I'm deep in a musical world I had previously been only vaguely aware of, listening to performers like Cesaria Evora and groups like Orchestra Baobab.

It doesn't matter that I can't understand the words. I can understand the music.

I opened my ears.

And by doing so, I found a way to live life a little more fully, a little richer than before.

The same is true when it comes to opening our eyes.

It's not necessary to travel or visit museums, though those are always worthy pursuits.

All that's really necessary is slowing down and looking at the beauty of the natural world around us.

There are half a dozen places in Jay County to get a few moments alone with nature. The Loblolly Wetlands Preserve has about three different trails; the Bibler Preserve near Boundary City has a couple of looping trails; Hudson Family Park has an easily accessible trail in Portland; the Bell-Croft Preserve on county road 300 South near Como is a gem; and the Bird Sanctuary on the Adams-Jay line just east of U.S. 27 has a couple of trails.

But too many of us are so caught up in the noise of television and the Internet and our own lives that we never take the time to see these places in our own backyard. What a shame.

What you find, when you start opening your eyes and your ears, is that pretty soon you start opening your mind as well.

I have never understood people who say - with a perverse sort of backwards pride - that they don't read books.

Don't read books? Talk about missing out on the feast.

Libraries are full and free and ready to carry you to the ends of the earth. They're like the Thanksgiving horn of plenty, but instead of fruit and vegetables they're full of ideas.

There's so much to savor in life, so much to be thankful for, so much to marvel at, so much to be touched by, it seems incredibly foolish and short-sighted not to make the most of it in the short time we have on this earth.

So here's my advice for Thursday. As you give thanks, open yourself up to the abundance before you. Tune out the noise. Open your ears. Open your eyes. Open your mind.[[In-content Ad]]