Through the Eye of the BEE-Holder

My husband is a great joke teller. He can roll with a slew of them and entertain for hours. Years ago I had him train me in joke telling. He would tell me a joke. I would listen intently. Then I would try to repeat it back. He would fill in what I  missed and I would try again. Eventually I would get it perfect and we would move on to learning another joke. I got to the point that I could roll a bunch off the tip of my tongue but without practice I'm back to one or two here and there. 

He recently told a silly joke - let's see if I can remember it. 
Question - 
"If you are holding a bee in your hand, what is in your eye"?
Answer - 
"Beauty"
"Beauty is in the eye of the bee-holder!"
Too cute, right? I know you will be able to use that one when a clean joke is required.

Our niece coaches a women's hockey team at Stevenson University in Maryland. Students from the hockey team, golf and basketball teams and a few non athletes from the school volunteered to come to Houston to work with Habitat for Humanity. They spent the last week up early every morning working til dinner time rebuilding homes devastated by Hurricane Harvey. They did their own fundraising to make enough money to make the trip - 28 of them in all. My niece asked my husband if he would cook for them on their last night and of course he said yes. He spent two days cooking brisket, chicken, pulled pork and stuffed jalapenos along with his famous macaroni and cheese in preparation. I contributed chocolate chip cookies and brownies. But I also did a few major things to the house that I have been procrastinating on. It feels so great to make those things happen.

When the group arrived they kept making comments on how beautiful our house was, how cool the stepping stone that was shaped like Texas on the front lawn was, how nice the backyard and pool were, etc... Everything was new to them and everything was cool to them. It was a delight to see my old house through fresh young eyes. As they pointed out different things I was a bit surprised about the things that had become common place to me - like the stepping stone - yet with their perspective it all became cool and new to me. They were "bee-holders!"

It was a great reminder to approach each day and each experience as something new and exciting to enjoy as we sometimes lose that "beauty in the eye of the beholder" perspective. 

A recent MasterMind group call reflected on the topic of enthusiasm. We were to report on how we had incorporated enthusiasm into our daily lives. The next time I taught yoga I started the class like the young college students approached my home - with fresh new eyes and an enthusiastic perspective - and that made all the difference in my class and my day and my week - as it will in yours.