The Sparkle List

Do you have a Bucket List? I don’t. I have no interest in intensifying my daily activities to include hang gliding or bungee jumping in a master plan for dying happy. I have a master plan for living happy.

So, instead of a bucket list, I have a Sparkle List. Every day, I try to Sparkle just a bit, in some weird, corny little way. Sparkling is not much of an accomplishment or a challenge, but I can choose to Sparkle at any given moment, anywhere I might be. It’s just small stuff, or it can be bigger picture plans. But whether they are big or small plans, I can make them happen in the moment.  These are the thoughts that make me Sparkle.

Take cherries, for instance. I have never seen a cherry tree. We can’t grow cherries where we live. I have never picked cherries or smelled the aroma of their blossoms in the clear spring air. But I love cherries and buy them like a mad woman when they appear in the market. I bought a bag for myself today when I was doing the shopping. It made me happy.

And I began to think how wonderful it would be to pick cherries…to fill up a basket, and sit in the shade, and eat cherries until I couldn’t eat any more. That would be a day to remember. And so, next summer, I think I will go to where the cherry trees are and live that moment. I hadn’t really thought of this before, but I am sure you agree cherry picking is a great idea.

Really, I don’t know anything about cherries, other than as a stone fruit they are related to almonds, plums, and peaches. So I decided to do a little investigating about cherries.

Coincidently, it turns out that the philosophy behind springtime cherry blossom viewing in Japan has everything to do with the temporary nature of life. We bloom, and then we die. Life is short, and sweet, so it is best to do what we want in the moment.

If I hadn’t bought that bag of cherries at my local super market, I wouldn’t have gone home to ponder cherries, and I wouldn’t have learned about their symbolism. See how Sparkling works? It always leads to some new thought, some fresh idea for now, and it carries towards a future. I will harvest those cherries next summer, but I enjoyed thinking about them now.

This may sound like a bucket list plan, but it’s not. In fact, it’s not a plan at all. It’s just a way to see things in the moment as we live our day. Recognize the good stuff that is in front of us and Sparkle along with it. Life has too many serious commitments for weighing down our short time with distant challenges that lack daily joy. No more lists please, and let’s not count down to the end.  Live for now and be truly happy in the moment.

For unlike bungee jumping, I am not afraid to Sparkle.