Diamonds at Your Feet

Imagine you decide to learn to play the drums.

The first time you sit down at a drum kit, you’re a total newbie. You don’t know much about rhythm and have no sense of how to play at all. It’s awkward and clumsy. But you persevere, and you begin to see some changes.

After your first few days of practice and persistence, you know a LOT more about playing drums than you did before. After your first full week, you’ve gone from zero to beginner very quickly.

After a couple more weeks, your sense of rhythm will be tuned up far beyond what it was. You’re a long way from being an expert, but compared to where you were, you’re much farther along.

Suddenly, you can hear—really HEAR—the drums in the music you listen to.

One of your favs plays, and for the first you can hear how that backbeat is so in the pocket, it is the driving heartbeat of the entire song. You felt it before, but never heard it so clearly.

And this enlivens your experience of music.

But something unexpected happens.

Something you could not have imagined before you started playing the drums.

After a month, something shifts.

You start to notice not just drums - but also rhythms that occur everywhere.

They just unexpectedly catch your attention.

Rainfall.

The pulse of the dishwasher motor.

The sounds of feet going up and down stairs.

The rapid pulse of helicopter blades whacking through the air.

The rhythmic “ka-thunk, ka-thunk” beat of your tires going over bumpy sections of the highway.

The stuttering of certain water sprinklers as they move back and forth.

And every time you hear one of those rhythms, it lights you up.

It’s really exciting to hear in this new way.

You thought you were learning to play drums, but it turned out to be much bigger than that.

Because in the process of learning to play the drums, you discovered an entire world of rhythm.

And that makes your experience of life better.

Your friends start to notice and comment that you seem happier and more engaged. And you are.

You listen better as well. Notice more.

And while this story uses drumming, what if we started with photography?

Like drumming opens the door to rythme, photography opens the door to color, composition, and field depth in ways you can’t imagine unless you’ve really taken the time to develop a photographer's eye.

You start to notice how well crafted certain scenes are in movies or on TV. are expertly framed and lit.

Or words—the poetic use of language that can move you like nothing else?

Or texture—the world of texture, including fabrics, ceramics, and other objects, is a fascinating study in sensation.

The world of touch and texture—including something as personal as the touch of someone’s hand, petting an animal, or the touch of those close to you—is an incredible experience.

These are entire worlds of experience that are open to you.

And they are here now.

When one of these doors opens, it can feel like you’ve been walking on dusty path for years looking for something and suddenly realize— and then you look down just to see where you're walking and notice - path is made of diamonds.

That world, that richness, was there all along; you just didn’t notice.

And that, my friend, is what mindfulness is like. A rich, more deeply connected, and satisfying world is already here. You just have to notice.