Train Treasures…
It’s not you…it’s me. Really, it’s me and I take full responsibility for wanting more connection. Connection to my loved ones, connection with strangers, connection with nature, connection with animals, connection with structures…wait what, structures? Yes, structures too!
How the f$@& does someone have a connection with a structure?! Well, in my mind anything that has materialised and therefore exists in the world we live in today can be connected with. I think this because connections come in various forms and in various “depths”, connecting with a person is one thing and with a structure would be a whole other ball game! If you decide to keep reading you will know what I mean…
What do YOU see in the picture above within the heart? Me, I see an angel made from clouds…an angel floating in the sunset sky of an afternoon “blessing” the train as it rushes from one station to the next delivering people to their destinations after a day’s work. I saw this fluffy white holy figure because I was looking out the window…
Train Treasures…that is what I call them, things we see when we look up and “out the window”. “Window” being anything that keeps you from looking up and out like…the million and one devices people generally have their heads buried in while life passes them by.
There are Bus Treasures, Car Treasures, Walking Treasures, Conversation Treasures…treasures everywhere if you/we/me simply take the time to bloody look out the “window”! So with that, last week I made a conscious decision to only touch my phone on the train ride to work if it rang or to take a photo/s of things I appreciate. Not only that, I decided to write down what I saw if it brought me joy or made me smile…and here is what made my morning train ride 110% better…
Train station…beginning my journey
Monday, 13th of July 2022
Lady walking a stunning brown horse
Mother teaching her small son to sneeze into his arm and not his hand
Cranes working
Graffiti murals
Maze of cracked cement on train platform
Man painting a window seal in white
Scattered blue & white tiles on a red tilled wall
Little girl skipping
Lady knitting with dark purple wool
Tuesday, 14th of July 2022
Sunshine on my face
Plane flying out of white fluffy clouds
Man standing with his eyes closed while bobbing is head to the music from his ear phones
Wednesday, 15th of July 2022
A lonesome bird on a naked branch at the top of a tree
Bright green bushes growing through the cracks of the highway cement retaining walls
Beautiful smiling young girl with dark curls
“Knowledge is King” wall mural
Little yellow house
My initials (R.L) on the train track concrete wall
Look for it and you will see…R.L
Thursday, 16th of July 2022
Sun & fog over the building site of the new Lions Football grounds
Heavy fog
Water trickling and glistening over mossy bolder retaining wall
Purple ferns painted on walls of a train station
Old soccer ball next to the train tracks
Dog in a red “jumper” sitting on a porch of a white Queenslander home
Beautiful windows on a home between green foliage (see below)
I didn’t go in to work on Friday and to be honest I missed looking “out the window” for “Train Treasures”! And, I can whole heartedly say I can’t wait to go into work tomorrow as not knowing what will catch my eye excites me…you can laugh all you want and call me “cuckoo” crazy it does not bother me one bit, in fact…if anyone is “cuckoo” it’s YOU who chooses to let life pass you by as you watch (literally!) others live theres…food for thought hey.
So while you’re thinking about it let’s go back to the “structure connection” I mentioned earlier. When you see something for what it is, you connect with it. When I mentioned the green bushes growing through the cracks of the highway cement retaining walls above I didn’t just see the plants, I saw the full structure. My mind went as far as wondering who made the concrete slabs and how, the materials and “man-power” used to get the slabs to the place they now reside, how many years it’s been there and how the elements have touched it day in and day out…that to me is “connection”. Getting curious, wondering, imagining, feeling and appreciating what it is there to do.
Now let me have my Oprah moment…”YOU get a treasure, YOU get a treasure, YOU get a treasure!” haha But unlike Oprah, I can’t “give” it to you…you need to want it bad enough to get is yourself.
Now go find your own Train Treasures, be a little “cuckoo” like me and take pleasure in looking “out the window” and connecting with whatever it is that brings you joy and makes you smile.
With Kindness,
