I woke up this morning and was lying in bed, slowly getting ready to get up.  Then the lights flickered for a minute and went out.  The power was out.  I waited a few minutes and it didn’t come back on, so I resigned myself to the uncertainty of how long I would be without power on this day.

The first thing I did was turn off the wifi and bluetooth connectivity on my phone and then put it on the Low Power setting to conserve the full charge that it had.  Communication seemed to be one of the first priorities that came to my mind.

Then I got up and opened all the blinds in the house, letting in all the natural light that I could.  I realized I couldn’t make tea without getting out my little butane burner and so I decided just to start my day with simple water.  I washed my face and brushed my teeth.  I made the bed and fed my kitty.  The typical morning stuff was completed.

I sat down to just breathe and look outside for a little bit.  Everything outside was completely normal.  The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing through the trees.  Cars were driving down the street and people were walking on the sidewalks.  The loss of power I was experiencing inside wasn’t impacting anything outside.  I felt more grounded when I thought about that.

My cat Mika wasn’t troubled at all by the power outage.  She didn’t care if she was seeing by natural or electrical light, or if her food was cold when I put it down for her.  She still approached living her day in the same way she always did – living in the moment, seeking out whatever caught her curiosity, engaging with me for cuddles and play.  Watching everything that was going on outside the window in the natural world.  She was calm and at peace, in the same way that she is every day.

I did some meditation and reflection for a little bit and felt even more centered.  Then my thoughts moved to what I was going to do with my time next.  I evaluated my choices.  Doing laundry, running my vacuum, doing some cooking all required electricity so those typical daytime activities were out.  I could go for a walk outside.  I could do some yoga inside.  I could read or write.  I have an embroidery project I just started that I could work on.  I could re-organize my spice cupboard.  I could do some slow drawing, a meditation practice that I love.  I realized I felt the same happy optimism when I looked at and looked forward to the things I could choose to do with my time today.  

I was debating which activity to begin when the power came back on.  Everything in the house depending on that power turned back on, and I realized I was not going to be without power for very much of this day.  I felt both relieved and disappointed.  Part of me had been kind of getting into the experience of living my day without power, curious about what all I would discover and become aware of though doing that.  Part of me was glad I could make my tea now.

How much of how I live each day is dependent on an outside power source?  How integrated is an outside power in everything that I do each day?  The experience of the power going out this morning made me want to think about those questions some more.  Look at how my daily living is typically structured and think about if there are some parts of that I might want to consider modifying.  The power outage this morning lasted only for an hour, it was not a long experience in terms of time.  But it was a good one because it is making me think.

I hope you have a good day today!