Happy Spring! Much like the sweet breeze and the afternoon sunshine, I’m back! It’s been a long winter with lots of work stress, dry skin and writing about the general and consuming frustrations of life in my paper journals. Then I thought, “Self…this is the year 2015. Take this self-involved diatribe back to the interwebs!” So here I sit, clicking away self-consciously, trying to find a way to reconcile all of my innermost thoughts and problems to this very public forum.
The first thing it makes me realize about my problems…they’re stupid.
I’m not very good at my job. Who cares? My clothes don’t fit very well over my newly-acquired Spanish “ham butt”. Go shopping! I don’t have enough time to meditate. Grasshopper needs to get her spanish ham butt off Instagram and MAKE time.
It’s all about keeping a positive attitude, right? This spring I want to stay positive and mindful and it’s HARD and that in itself is sort of stupid. Why is it hard to simply be present in a moment? Here are some practices I want to try:
4 Beginner Level, Totally Made-Up Mindfulness Practices:
1) Smile.
At a stranger (or just someone I don’t know very well, so I don’t start getting stalked by creepy strangers). At least once a day.
2) Make small talk (and listen).
As a New Yorker, I’m genetically engineered to tune out when people start blathering on at me if I’m busy. Recently (I think it has something to do with hanging around Europeans) I am realizing the art of “chit-chat”. It’s cute. I think it’s how people that don’t drink alcohol make friends?
3) Flowers.
Look at them, grow them, buy them, whatever. I want flowers (see photo). It’s spring.
4) Passion projects.
Hence the blogging. Passion provides roots in the world, gives me something to light up about. If it was important enough for Google employees, that’s good enough for me.
Do you have any mindfulness practices you like to use to stay positive and in the moment? And hey, what the hell have you been up to for the past 3 months?! Comment below and let me know. Happy Spring!
For other thoughts on mindfulness, click here.
And shoutout to Irina Iriser on Unsplash for the feature photo on this post.