Is everybody ready for Five Minute Saturday? It’s where most writers gather on Friday — myself and few of my other writing friends excepted — to write unscripted for five minutes on a specific word prompt. Then we gather at Kate’s place (http://katemotaung.com/2016/07/28/five-minute-friday-hidden/) to share our pearls of wisdom or our pig’s ears. We then mix and mingle.

It’s a great creative outlet. Not everything is perfect … but neither are we. It’s always eye-opening. You should check out the site and see for yourself … or better yet, try it yourself.

The prompt is HIDDEN and the timer is set, so let’s GO …

There is a lot hidden in this world. Hidden words. Hidden agenda. Hidden objects. While most of these are in the background, some times, just some times, they are hidden in plain sight.

The crew of the Titanic knew it. The bulk of the iceberg was hidden. When you look behind the words and parse them, you can uncover subtleties that were hidden. Sometimes those words camouflage the obvious intent. Every step we take is a new adventure if we see the extraordinary, hidden gems in the ordinary … the blade of grass reaching from a crack in the sidewalk … the pigeons at the watering hole … the symmetry of swallows in flight … the unexpected laughter of a child.

They can all be lost if we’re not looking for them. Or, in other words, they are hidden from our view.

It doesn’t take much to condition yourself … STOP

… to look for these hidden treasures or even look beyond the surface words. All it takes is a little discipline.

I try each day to look beyond the obvious in my surroundings. I can see a hidden beauty in a simple landscape. I can hear the hidden symphony of the birds {yes, even at 5 a.m. when no living creature should be awake}. I can smell the hidden oregano in the pasta sauce. I can taste that special, hidden secret ingredient, even if I don’t quite know what it is. I can feel the hidden emotions of a situation, maybe not physically, but certainly in my heart. I can read more than words, but sometimes hidden intent. They frame my perception of reality … hidden and obvious.

My challenge this week is for all of us to look for something special — maybe hidden in plain sight — in the wind chime, the candles, the sky, the landscape and, perhaps most important, in the people around us.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: What if we stopped looking at the color of a person’s skin and started realizing we all bleed the same shade of crimson.