Monday Sneaks Up on Me Late Sunday Afternoon

Mind Less Monday

Big Chairs for Little People

Weeds and Hidden Treasures

A Case Against Being Mindful

I don’t want to be mindful all the time, or even most of the time. It’s a worthy endeavor, but my mind is full most days. If I give careful, that is, mindful, attention to everything, I foresee serious overload, resulting in my brain experiencing the infamous Microsoft Blue Screen or the Mac spinning rainbow of doom.

To avoid such an experience, and contrary to all things Zen, I decided a few months ago to have Mind Less Mondays.

Mind Less. Monday starts sneaking up on me late Sunday afternoon. Dusky pinks in the sky signal sundown and the day’s end. I’m re-mind-ed that the weekend is almost over. I must begin to shift gears toward work and the business of life. I mind Monday much less when my weekend has been fun, engaging, and enriching. (Note to self: Plan for such weekends and when Friday rolls around, I won’t stare off into space thinking, “Hmm… what do I do now?”)

Mix and Match, Early Everything, Thrift Shop, and Yard Sale headline my decorating style. Too often, in keeping with that style, I purchased chairs that fit my five-foot, two-inch, 115-pound self. I rethought that mind set after (more than once) yanking a cane-seated chair away from a 140-pound person about to sit in it. Those chairs now hold plants, books, and other lightweight items. I was relieved when I finally had four matching grown-up chairs at the table. But now I am back to mix-and-match, although sturdy, chairs. I mind it less, much less, because one of those now has a baby booster seat firmly attached to it. A baby at the table trumps matching chairs any day.

Weeds oh, weeds! Today, I mind less that the bougainvillea is choked with grass and weeds at its base because it’s filled with flowers at its top. I minded those weeds even less after I realized those flowers would be lovely in my green pitcher on the table.

Today, I mind less that other parts of the garden are a jungle. Instead, I let my eyes be drawn to the treasure hiding beneath the overgrown shrubs and flowers.

Passionflower vines overtake the front garden, but who could possibly mind when the flowers they produce are pure magic? Looking deeper in this aspect of my garden, I found the stunning passionflower. I mind less that I’m re-mind-ed to look deeper into other aspects of life.

Scraps of paper with notes, sayings, motivational phrases, and story and blog ideas are taking over my desk. I mind those bits of paper less, much less, because I have been putting those words into stories. Those scraps signal that I’m creative, working, writing, doing what I love.

I Mind Less and then gratitude becomes my focus—gratitude for babies, gratitude for looking beyond the weeds, gratitude for looking deeper and seeing what gifts I can find, gratitude for words, thoughts, and the actions that spring from them. Mind Less Monday—also a gift.