Morning Frustrations

There are times when I don't take my own advice... and my advice is generally worth taking. (Laugh) This morning is a good example. I was getting my 7 year old back to sleep (He'd had a horrible nightmare and needed cuddling.) and as I lay there, in the warm, comforting darkness, it occurred to me that the best way to start the morning would be to read something that would set the kind of tone for the day that I wanted: something calm, relaxed, and contemplative. I even had a book in mind. But once I was out of the room and back in the artificial light, did I take my own advice? Nope. Instead I started rushing around, doing all those things that make me crazy. Why do I do this? Why does anyone do this?

This morning's craziness involves trying to import my old blog to this site. Unfortunately, the site from which I wish to import appears to be down. I have tried repeatedly, over the course of an hour or so, to access it. I have even (shudder) resorted to searching for the site on Facebook. (Everyone has a Facebook page these days, have you noticed?) The wise thing to do, I know, is to give up on this. To do what I had intended to do in the first place -- to re-start the day with a calm meditation.

So I have gone and found my copy of Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much - Revised edition Don't know that the title fits me (snort) but the ideas can be helpful. The book is set up by date but seeing as how I am a rebel at heart, I decided to flip through the pages and find the meditation that best suited my frame of mind. curiously enough, that turned out to be the January 1st entry: Rushing/Frenzy "Anything worth doing is worth doing frantically" Hmm...

Actually the Meditation makes sense. It points out the the selection of January 1st as the day on which life 'starts anew' is purely arbitrary and that our drive to 'finish the old and start afresh' simply adds to the stresses in our lives. The idea that we need to 'fix' things in order for everything to turn out right is false. Instead of getting caught up in a list of resolutions on how we intended to improve ourselves and our lives, the meditation suggests that we say 'I Hope for the willingness to live this year in a way that will be gentle to myself (and others!)... one day at a time.'

Mindfulness... that is the theme for the day. Being here, in this moment, aware of all that is going on. Celebrating the preciousness of what we have right now rather than rushing around looking for something other, something better. And with that thought, I leave you to go begin my day by celebrating the return of sunlight... and by hoping that you too have a wonderful mindful day.