mulberryshoots

I’ve been thinking a lot about how things are going lately. Outside of ourselves, it sometimes feels as though everything is in play and mostly out of our control. Yes, we can sign the affirmation for recycling in our state with the passage of a bottle bill. But we can’t make Washington change. Nobody seems to be able to. We can’t make the overextended countries in Europe save themselves. We can’t do anything about the stock market nor its impact on our savings, such as they are.

What we can do every day is to realize there is a difference between all the hurtling conflict in the world and how we choose to live our day. It’s the small things, it seems to me, that truly make a difference: reading the newspaper and having breakfast together; having something light and fresh for lunch. Doing chores so that they’re actually done, and not just sitting around waiting for the next step. We are fortunate that we have time to enjoy with each other. Freeing ourselves from being dragged along by the behavior of others outside of ourselves gives us space and energy to do what is meaningful to us, even if it means correcting mistakes in something we’re in the process of making (the corners of the middle 5-star square in a quilt hanging don’t meet properly,) or being honest about why we decide to do things and then do them well, or drop them altogether if we have been doing things for the wrong reasons.

Perhaps I am overly optimistic that we can find peace of mind for ourselves in these small ways. But I don’t think so. Maybe that’s what they mean when they talk about being mindful. That word always has lots of baggage for me because it seems to entail some level of having peace of mind already in order to promote it. So, appreciating what we have so much of already is a start to living with peace of mind. The idea that the glass is half full or even almost full is a recognition that whatever we might think is missing could be something unnecessary or even bogus.

Now, I think I’m going to have my breakfast and read the paper. How about you?