Every year, without fail, Springtime brings cherry blossoms and roaring motorcycles and The Met Gala to New York City.

Billed as ‘Fashion’s biggest night out’, the fanfare of the Met Gala feels a little bit inescapable— it hijacks social media, and the cover of The New York Post.
Not to mention a whole lot of attention with the glitter and hoopla involved.

As much as I find celebrity worship culture a bit … misguided, there’s something about the plumage and ceremony of the Gala that I adore.
I’m deeply appreciative of any mind that’s capable of taking a few yards of fabric and creating wearable architecture.
Drag on parade. Celebration of the human form.

There was one moment that sliced through the fanfare and ceremony in the most refreshing way, though — and it’s been resonating ever since.

When the designer who was being honored this year — Rei Kawakubo, the founder and force behind the label COMME de GARCON — was asked about her creative process, she answered by saying :

“I am just working every day, day to day, with what I believe.
It’s a very ordinary way of dealing with your life — just dealing with your work.”

I read this statement on my daily commute, and then read it again.
And again.

“It’s a very ordinary way of dealing with your life…”
ORDINARY.

Most of the time that we encounter this word, it’s in a pejorative way.

Take for instance, the hashtag #Basic.
This is definitely not a compliment or how we ever want to be described.

If something is ordinary, or commonplace or mundane …. it’s almost as though it’s a problem. There's a fundamental flaw in the design.
You hear it in motivational speeches all the time.
Commonplace needs to be upleveled!
Average needs to be improved!

But here was a woman who was celebrating what is ordinary — a champion of the mundane.
And frankly, it was sobering.
Not to mention refreshing as f*ck.
A tiny credo of liberation from the tyranny of constant improvement.

Because for better or worse, ordinary is the state where most of our life is taking place.
In the commuting to work, and the dinners at home, and the bed that we sleep in night after night. Ordinary is the glass of wine we have with friends, and the same block we walk down every day, and curling up on the couch at night.

To celebrate what is ordinary feels a bit like a celebration of life itself.

In many ways, Rei's statement is reflective of what we're doing in meditation practice -- developing an accommodating, possibly even appreciative relationship to our moment to moment experience.
Just this. No filler. No need to shift it or make it tastier.
It's a dealing with life in a very ordinary way.
Clean. Direct. Refreshing.

Take you : right now. Just reading this email. Breathing air.
It's a pretty basic moment...and also, exquisitely so.
Ordinary and complete. No glitter or hoopla required.
Ahhh.