Weekly Reflection (week 43): This Moment

In the spirit of THIS Moment, the ecourse I am taking with Mindy Tsonas of Wishstudio, I revisited the practice of taking a photograph every hour for one day. I am thinking of it as my mid-month mindfulness practice as it really helps me to slow down and recognize the details that one day I know I will miss and right now probably take for granted. Like bath time with Cowgirl or my morning commute.

So with little fanfare ... a few details from a typical day:

7 am: feeding Moose on a chair in an attempt to keep him from gulping his food; yes, we are still tired and blurry

8 am: morning commute

11 am: at work (banks of slide cabinets)




2 pm: grocery shopping



4 pm: snack time



7 pm: bath time

Mindy's ecourse has reminded me of the need to return again and again to how I am feeling in each moment. The impulse of the season - and my natural tendency - is to be continually rushing forward. Often while seemingly engaged in a task, I am really thinking ahead to what I want/need to do next. So the next five weeks is an invitation to repeatedly return to the moment I am in, pause, take a deep breath, and notice.

While working on this blog post, I recognized a tightening in my navel center and a kind of breathlessness as I frantically tried to pull the words out of me and onto the keyboard. Realizing a griping within my body, I got up and walked away. My mind needed space to open up. My spirit needed to relax and be. I decided to put the kettle on and take a moment to have hot cocoa with my girl.

Our main task in Mindy's course is to work with daily practice pages. Each day we are to take a moment to turn to our pages as an act of grounding within our lives. The page is small and we can do whatever it is we feel called to do in that moment. The point is not about the finished page, but about the conscious choice to pause at least once in my day and notice and be. The page itself is like a snapshot - one moment of my being captured and preserved.







I've already enjoyed coming home and knowing I will have a moment when I can spill myself onto the page. After my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (wow, that book takes on new meaning for me now!) my practice page ended up being a healing way of honoring my feelings while also letting go and moving on. I've started many a gratitude journal, but I think this practice suits me better. It is a more the flexible format, and the the practice is open to whatever I feel call to use: words, images, collage, doodles, whatever is appropriate in that moment is spilled onto the page.

Of course my mind is already jabbering away, thinking about future projects that emerge out of this: a journal with words, thoughts, wisdom for Cowgirl; a holiday journal; a Our Year scrapbook ...

Okay, I am pausing, breathing, and allowing the flow of thoughts to travel on by ...

Maybe later, but for now ... this day, a new page.