I bet you’ve heard the term “Mindfulness” by now, right? Its a way of thinking that helps people to tune out all the static in our heads, and to simply savor the present moment.
I heard about the idea from a wonderful therapist, who suggested that I try to practice this gentle form of semi-meditation every day. It sounded fabulous to me! I would learn to feel the beauty in every day. I would learn to feel the air, to smell the earth, to see the blue, blue sky. I embraced the concept!
Because it was June.
It was easy to live in the moment when the moment was 70 degrees and smelled like lilac blossoms.
Its not so easy right now.
Right now, if I “breathe deeply and draw the air slowly into my lungs”, I’ll have an asthma attack. Right now, if I try to smell the earth, the hair in my nose will turn into tiny icicles that threaten to pierce my brain. And as for that blue sky? HA! If I try to gaze up at it, snowflakes will coat my eyeballs in an instant.
Right now, my world looks like this:
I do NOT want to live in this moment. Nuh, uh.
But the funny thing is, I think that most of actually do tend to believe that the present is forever. Right now, summer seems impossible. I don’t believe that it really exists, or that it will ever come back. And I bet that a year from now I’ll have a conversation with someone about snow, and we’ll try to remember how bad this winter was. And we’ll have to go look it up, because we won’t remember the details.
And I bet that on a steamy night in July, when the air is so thick you can see it, I won’t be able to envision the icy feel of this morning, when it is 8 below zero.
So maybe I am “mindful” after all.
Which is kind of a pain in February.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
I wish I could send some warmer temperatures your way. Good piece.
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Oh, I wish you could, too!!! Still, its beautiful out there!
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If you conquer this, please teach me! I have been trying to be “mindful” for two years, and the stress of trying to live in the present has stressed me out even more. I am hopeless, and if I were inundated by the snow in the picture above, I would be having stress palpitations (will the roof cave in, will the snow blower give out like it did last year, will my husband have a heart attack shoveling . . .). Just sayin’! 😦
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I know, I’m right there with you, Eleanor! I do try to work on appreciating the moment, but I have to be honest. Right now I appreciate the moments in the hot tub and the moments under the covers; the rest of the moments? Not so much!
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Love that moment when I inhale the crisp, icy air and start to choke. Look at the window and it snowing again. Look at the back windows and see the giant ice dams that are destroying the roof and siding. Om. OOOOOOHMmmmmmmm.
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OOOOOOOOHHHHMMMMMMmygod, why do I live here?
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When I die, it will be from living in the moment in the middle of winter, and thus destroying all hope.
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I am living in yet another foot of “the moment” right now and all I can do is growl.
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Mindfulness is all well and good, but sometimes, the present moment just sucks, as it does for everyone in Massachusetts. Think about Spring Training! At least you, unlike me, don’t have to think about A-Rod.
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