What are your 5 Favorite Things Right Now?

A Feeling of Belonging? Hot Cheetos? A Good Book? by Michelle Scully

Years ago, my roomate asked me, out of the blue, “Michelle, what are your 5 favorite things in the whole world right now?” After a bit of stammering on my part, she encouraged “don’t overthink it.”

Right, ok.

What she wanted to know was what had my attention today? What were the things that made me feel more comfortable in the world? What pulled at my heartstrings? What excited me? What made me feel glad to be human? What connected me to the world, to God, to those around me?

This “5 favorite things” prompt became a grounding point for us, a question occasionally asked on hikes, over coffee, on road trips. The answers change daily, and there was no pressure for the “right” answers. Still today, nearly a decade later, we will occasionally text each other the prompt.

Bell Canyon, Utah - a place for good hikes and good chats

As Thanksgiving nears, we are often asked what we are grateful for. I personally detest this question, as I often feel that I’m going to forget to say something big- my partner? my kids? food? a roof over my head?

Rather, I invite us to think about the specifics. In her poem Sometimes, Mary Oliver provides her “instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

“5 favorite things” is my entrance into paying attention - a pathway to gratitude that feels tangible.

My 5 favorite things right now:

1. Bon Iver’s Speyside

2. Community, in big and small ways

3. The way my toddler often says “hi mom, we be friends?”

4. Crispy chili oil

5. Extra long sweater sleeves

This is your invitation to pay attention, be astonished and tell about it. Text a friend, start a Thanksgiving dinner conversation, or comment here: what are your five favorite things in the whole world right now?

I invited a few friends to respond to this prompt for this post as well, and answers include:

1. Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande (I'm counting this as one bc it occupies the same space in my brain)

2. the new Wicked movie (also partial Ariana Grande)

3. Reading fiction. I'm always reading but I'm on a huge prose kick right now (which is unusual for me) and it's all fiction

4. Cooking. Especially soup.

5. My new nephew. I am meeting him for the first time tomorrow ♥️

From another friend:

1. my baby doing anything, but especially the fact that she said “bye mama” and gave me a big kiss before leaving for daycare this morning 💕

2. The amazing trees in our park and on our daily walk

3. Chai tea in the afternoons when I work from home

4. Thinking about how much growing [my husband and I] have done together, especially in the last year of our marriage. And I’m just so dang proud of him and the ways he holding everything and taking on the care of his parents

5. This amazingly comfortable chair we got from Costco a few weeks ago

From another friend:

1. the new wicked movie. Saw it last night, could talk endlessly about why it's a masterpiece.

2. raspberry tea.... on a big raspberry tea kick recently

3. the audiobook app from the library (we love Libby )

4. embroidery

5. thrifting

And finally, your 5 favorite things right now:

5. ---

AUTHOR:

Michelle Scully is the program and events coordinator for the Benedictine Sisters of Erie. Contact her if you are interested in contributing a piece to this space, or becoming connected to the Erie Benedictines through a variety of ways, including the Benedictine Peacemakers monastic immersion.