Living Mindfully

How does it happen that the days go zipping by, and we hardly notice them one by one, but then we look up, and it’s already February? I think that from now on, I am going to have a summing up time, so that I can mark what has happened in my life. If every day, or let’s say every evening, I were to take five minutes to look back on the day, and see what went well, what I might like to have done differently, where I need to make adjustments, I think that this reflection might be beneficial. Don’t you? It could be done while I brush my teeth. Your mind is essentially unoccupied while you are flossing, so what about taking up that empty space in reflection? And then, while I am changing my clothes, another mindless activity, take another five minutes to think of the day ahead, not to plan my to-do list, but to plan how I want to feel, what way I can leave the world a little better, how I can make someone else’s day a little brighter, I think that would be a good thought to take to bed with me. Perhaps then the days would not just slip by without notice, but be time periods when differences were made by mindful living and thinking. At the end of a week of more mindful living and thinking, I will have some worthwhile things to reflect on. Sometimes, and I am in one of those times, we are brought up short by the unexpected. And it is not necessarily even bad things that happen. It is just not part of the regular program. It is a reminder that we have only so much time on this earth to accomplish what we hold most dear. Today is the day to get about it. Leaving the important stuff, like taking better care of ourselves, until we have time, is just silly. We have to carve out the time to do what is important, to say what needs to be said, and to be who we want to be. I have a quote on my refrigerator, the source of all wisdom. It says: When you know who you are and what it is you want, you are that much closer to getting it. So take today to think about those two things. Who are you? And What do you want? It won’t come to you all at once, and tomorrow you might change, but if you start to think about it today, you are that much closer to the answer. Have and great and mindful day.