Accidentally Mindful
Savor Goldilocks moments on purpose.
In the words of my three-year-old grandson, this haiku by Clark Strand makes my heart happy.
a yellow ash leaf accidentally mindful as I watch it fall
During presentations, I often recommend savoring Goldilocks circumstances — those ideal, fleeting moments when nothing needs to change, but we ruminate and miss their richness.
The shower isn't too hot or too cold. You wake up to find yesterday's ache has faded away. A red light turns green. Your coffee tastes just right. Geese fly over the house while your grandson sits on your lap, eating a peanut butter and jelly-covered waffle.
You don't have to meditate for twenty minutes daily to start scouting for and savoring such moments of simple delight.
The essence of this haiku also conjures a lovely memory of practicing outside with some older folks a couple of years ago.
I wrote down some of their comments before driving home that day.
🍁 "When I walk my dog every morning, I look for changes in the color of leaves. I find something new every time I look."
🍂 "When we were practicing just now, I felt and heard the breeze, I felt the sun warming my back, and off to my left, I heard a ginkgo leaf hit the ground."
👻 "I've been finding myself using mindfulness to ease into uncomfortable things that I would have avoided in the past. I almost didn't dress up for the Halloween party this year, but I just broke it down into small steps and paid attention to the discomfort I felt."
🪑 "I just got so relaxed I thought I was going to slide off my chair."
🫗 "I was looking at the drink someone spilled and it makes such a beautiful pattern. While we've been out here, it's been drying and changing. It makes me think that maybe everything is constantly changing even when we don't notice. I was thinking about how when we go back inside, we aren't the same as when we came outside."
😌 "I thought the mechanical sound behind me would keep me from noticing anything else, but then I noticed the relaxation in my legs and realized the sound had moved into the background and wasn't a problem at all."
🏄🏻 "I wrestle with anxiety a lot of the time, but when we were practicing, I noticed the anxiety would come and go. When I was paying close attention to a sound or the breeze, I realized I felt peaceful — like I didn't feel the need to change anything for a bit. The anxiety came back and went away again. It was so interesting. I don't think I've ever noticed this before."
May we all be accidentally mindful of a few extraordinarily undramatic moments today.
