Kiwi!

My new meditation mat came in. So excited, in only the way a few people who are trying out new things can be excited. 

Next on my list? A singing bowl. I have a thousand and one uses for it already! One of my sons’ teachers uses it for transitions, and to get everyone’s attention. I’m going to do the same. But, my meditation mat, adored and appreciated by myself and Sir Cogsley, Husbear’s ridiculous cat. I’ll add a picture later, sans cat. I use Bear’s meditation bean bag chair, which he uses to play video games, so I have some work to do with him.

I read that if one person in a family is mindful, then the rest of the family benefits, because that person serves as a reminder to be mindful. See, I’m doing this for my family. Last night I told Turbo, who was very angry and slamming toys down,  that when he was angry, he was anger, and did he want to be anger? 

He left confused. But not angry!

I’m not great at mindfulness, but I am trying. Today, I tried to ride my bike mindfully. First, I tried to hang on to my breathing, but I think I got distracted by the fact that I was trying to ride my bike mindfully and totally lost it. Then I got it back! Then I got distracted by work. Then, I got my breath back again, lost it, and then, after a bird dive-bombed in front of my bicycle before soaring off, I decided to pay attention to the moment and tried to grab hold of it again. Breath is a tricky thing to keep. Try it, try taming and following yours.

That moment of paying attention was when a squirrell leapt out and ran across the road in front of me. It was a wonderful morning bike ride, though, still, I think my breath went and followed the bird. It's probably still with the bird, flitting happily from tree to tree.

So I decided to try again eating a kiwi. That would have gone better if I had paid attention to how to eat it before trying to experience eating it. At first I cut it and was going to just peel away the skin and bite into it, but the hairy kiwi skin is too much of a pain to peel. I grabbed a plastic spoon and I ended up splattering kiwi juice all over my arm. Finally, I got to enjoying it, but then got distracted by the idea of writing about how I mindfully ate a kiwi. So it wasn’t a very mindful act at all. The mindless kiwi, I suppose.

What I am acutely aware of at this very moment, however, is that the kiwi is still lingering on my tongue - an acutely tart remnant of an over-ripe kiwi. I may not have eaten it mindfully, but I am, at this very present moment, deeply aware of the existence, texture and taste of the kiwi from the past moment.