Day 13 Mindful Moments Challenge

Balmy Boston -- quite an ironic statement for January in the northeast. Today as the mercury inched to 50 degrees I observed the relative nature of temperature. This afternoon sun shone and the snow seemed to melt before my eyes, I opened my car windows and remarked how warm the air felt. Yet, in August if the temperature was 50 degrees, I would bundle up in a sweatshirt and bemoan the fact that we were having such cold weather....a humorous mindful moment that I hope I won't forget come summertime...it's all relative!

Day 9 Mindful Moments Challenge

Even when you think you think you "know" an object, there is always a new observation to be made, an opportunity for a mindful moment, and so it was for me with a clementine today.
Things I learned that I didn't know before:
  • You can't smell a citrus smell when the peel in intact, only upon scratching or opening the skin
  • Each segment is not the same size
  • There were 11 segments in my clementine, but 9 in one I ate yesterday
  • I found a seed in one of the segments but none in the other segments
What did you notice today?

Day 8 Mindful Moments Challenge

Slow traffic near Harvard Square in Cambridge Massachusetts today gave me the opportunity to notice the trees by the side of the road from my car window. Observing the bark of the old sycamores reminded me of the apt name my kids used to call these trees -- "cartoon trees" because they looked like the kind of trees a child would draw as a cartoon. This mindful moment gave me a pause and a smile in an otherwise busy day.

Mindful

Thank you to one of my readers, Dee, for "re-Minding" me of this lovely poem by Mary Oliver. So perfect for our month of Mindful Moments


Mindful

by Mary Oliver
Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

"Mindful" by Mary Oliver from Why I Wake Early. © Beacon Press, 2005. Reprinted with permission.

Happy New Year...Welcome to a Month of Mindful Moments

Good morning 2014! As we enter a new year we are filled with resolutions for big changes in our lives, and generally these changes are unsustainable over time. Let's do something a little different this year, what about setting the bar lower and just noticing one thing mindfully each day? I am calling this the Mindful Moments Challenge. I invite you to participate during the month of January as I post a daily mindful moment from my life and hope you do the same. Expect to see 31 daily posts this month, with a thought, a photo, a description, or a poem about something that I noticed in a way I hadn't before. I welcome and encourage you to post your mindful musings -- feel free to use the comment section on my blog for your thoughts. Let's see how this evolves and see what mindful moments we can share.

Ready, set, go........

January 1 The friendly face of a paperwhite narcisus

Mindful Moments Challenge

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."~ John Lennon

snowflake-cookies.jpg On the eve of a new year, it seems especially timely to reflect and consider the wild ride we are on together called life.  Mindfulness teaches us that it is the moments, sometimes hidden within the busyness, that give our life richness and meaning. Often we project into the future, as in "when (fill in the blank) happens, then I will be happy", and new year's resolutions can push us toward this way of future thinking by negating the present moment.  Consider making 2014 a year of mindful moments, continuing to have overarching goals, but also honoring the present moment by noticing it as it unfolds; and not observing your life in the rear view mirror or as a mirage on the distant horizon.

As a way of embracing this rather radical idea of mindfulness, I invite you to join me during the month of January in a Mindful Moments Challenge: Let's work together and help each other in learning to slow down to the speed of life in the new year. Beginning tomorrow, January 1,  I encourage you to join me in capturing a mindful moment in a word, poem, photograph, drawing, description, etc. Let your imagination take flight! You can post your mindful moments in the comment section of this blog.  I hope it will serve as inspiration and will be interesting to see what others notice and share. Remember to look for those small, seemingly inconsequential moments that are really the essence of our life.

Happy new year and may this year bring many mindful moments your way,
Pam

Haiku Rally #30 Holidays

Today is the last day of November and the final day of my month-long Haiku Rally. I have enjoyed my challenge and have found that I became more mindful as I created a haiku from my day to day experiences. Thank you to those of you who contributed your own haiku creations to my blog. While the official Haiku Rally is over for this year, I welcome you to continue to create and post your mindful haiku to the comment section of my blog at any time.

As we enter the holiday season full steam tomorrow the calendar turns to December, I encourage you to practice the fine art of wabi-sabi (the beauty and wholeness of imperfection) and remember to breathe....

Holidays
Holiday bustle
Practicing wabi-sabi
Noticing the breath

Haiku Rally #29 The Village

Shortly after Thanksgiving each year basement boxes get carried upstairs and the annual creation of "the village" begins by my daughter, Jen.  Some of these figures were my grandmother's but many are new additions, combined with the older ones to create a magical scene. I love the old and new coming together to create an ever changing landscape!


 The Village
The village appears
Emerging from the boxes
Each year magical