The Wonders of Supermarkets: Finding Awe in Everyday Life

In adulthood, it can feel like there are few opportunities for real possibility in one’s daily life. We are slaves to routine. We are a means to an end in the modern economy. In most of our work, we are cogs in the giant machine of commerce and business. We can have some autonomy there. But the autonomy can be limited. We are constrained by our circumstances. Is it any wonder we long for something else, we fantasize for an escape? We want something to just be different. Modern life feels so static.

Our screens are our mirror but also a distraction. Our screens give us possibility. They may not be real possibility. But consider the TV show or the video game. Wha are they but means to feel something vicariously? They work to an extent, of course. We all use our screens. God knows I’m addicted to my crossword puzzles.

But sometimes more organic senses of life can slip into the everyday. Yesterday I went shopping at Safeway. This may seem a mundane task for most of us. But for some reason, yesterday shopping felt like when I was a kid at a toy store. The excitement and possibilities were suddenly endless, just as it was when I was young. The produce aisle in itself is one of the wonders of life, yet it is so easy to take for granted. Aesthetically it seemed to me no different than a beautiful painting. The explosion of color…