Practicing Mindfullness

I have the day "off" today. That is my older girls are out of town and my youngest daughter is out with Axel on an all day bike ride. I am totally off the clock with my mothering duties. So what am I going to do? CHORES! Can you even believe it? It isn't as bad as it sounds. First of all - it is nearly noon and I have not even begun to do anything so it isn't like I am going to spend all day slaving away. Second - the chores that I am going to do consist primarily of setting up and organizing my new official sewing room and doing some work in the garden. I love both of these activities so working on them is really play for me. I do plan on getting some laundry done, but even that these days is somewhat relaxing. I finally got around to setting up the laundry line in the back yard last week so now instead of tossing the clothes into the dryer I get to hang them up outside. It is actually a nice meditation for me and brings me back in touch with the task. It allows me to really be mindfull about what I am doing.

I have been making a true effort to be more mindfull in my daily activities. Focusing on what it is that I am doing at that time, not on what I have done in the past or might do in the future. It is amazing how much peace this is bringing to ordinary things. When I went to my Birthing From Within workshop a few weeks ago the facilitator read a passage to us about being mindfull. It really hit home for me. One of the primary focuses of Birthing From Within is giving birth in awareness. Another is that the pain coping practices used in childbirth are work best when used in daily life and not just dusted off for labor. In keeping with that theme I have been trying to live my life in awareness. I have a long way to go with it, but what small changes I have implemented are having a profound impact on things. Axel commented yesterday that I seemed much happier and cheerful than I usually am. That was reassuring to hear after making a very concerted effort yesterday to live mindfully and aware. What could have been a very melancholy and stressful day was made calm and peaceful.

So off I go now to begin my days work. I am really excited about my sewing room. Up until now my sewing stuff has pretty much taken over the kitchen table and surrounding areas. We have had to take our plates into the living room to eat, which has led to very unaware and unmindfull mealtimes. I am looking forward to sitting down to a meal again with my family. It has been much too long since this has happened.

posted by Unknown at 7:46 pm