On Saturday, there was a home cross-country meet. Knowing that the amazing volunteer coaches needed help, I enlisted the babysitting services of my sister Katie and showed up at the golf course at 6:30 on a beautiful Saturday morning in order to do my civic duty and help out at the meet.
My assignment? To sit at a certain point in the course and show kids which lap they needed to take at which point (first lap, they had to go right at the fork in the path, second lap, left).
It was a serious and complicated assignment. And I took it seriously.
But because I had left my phone with my sister and not thought to bring any kind of other entertainment, I was pretty bored, until I thought about something I read on a blog somewhere about The Art of Mindfulness.
For those of you who don't know much about Buddhist teachings, the art of mindfulness is a meditation technique in which you focus on an object and train your mind to return to said object again and again, without allowing your thoughts to wander and get distracted. It's said to be a wonderful relaxation exercise and very helpful in reducing stress.
So, I figured I'd try it out. For my object, I picked a random tree directly in my line of vision, sat up straight in my chair, and tried to utilize my yoga breathing while I kept the tree in my vision.
For the sake of my readers, I've included a visual representation of said tree (remember, I didn't have my phone on me, so no camera):
I know, I know. Breathe in the beauty.
Since my thoughts were so ridiculously varied and typical of how my mind works on a daily basis, I thought I'd jot down a few of them for y'all:
That tree is beautiful. I love the green against the sky. It's a good thing it's good weather today, that way the kids aren't running in the rain...
Oh, yeah. Tree. The tree. Let's see...what kind of a tree is that again? I grew up calling them cedars, but Steve tells me they're really junipers. Wonder why everyone I know calls 'em cedars. This little town has some weird ideosyncracies, that's for sure...
Tree. Tree. Look at the tree. Focus on the tree. Think about the tree.
I wonder how long I've been sitting out here? Probably at least fifteen minutes by this point. Wish I had a watch on.
Okay. Tree.
Since I'm sitting here staring at a tree for at least the next half hour, I'm gonna try to find some spiritual symbolism in it. The branches could represent the family; and each individual branch is pointing up--towards God. Then there are a few branches here and there that wander down for a while; but even most of them still end up pointing up. That symbolizes repentance. And the beauty of the unity of it can represent the unity we're trying to get in the church.
Oh, yeah, church--I need to call and make sure everyone knows what their assignments are for the Primary Program next week! Primary Programs are stressful. I've never done one before. I hope I'm doing everything all right; I sure love the music we're learning this year.
Shoot. I'm distracted. Again.
Okay. Tree. This tree really is pretty with the green against the blue of the sky. I already thought that, but it's still true. Such a nice, warm morning. Dang it. I forgot to pack sunscreen for the kids. And sitting here in the sun is for sure going to get me sunburned.
I wonder at what point sun exposure stops being good for vitamin D/depression effects and what point it starts being harmful...I should time myself and see how quickly I get sunburned. I'll bet it's no longer than ten minutes. Remember that cool sunscreen commercial? The one where they showed a UV light shone on people and it showed how much sun damage they had on their faces? I bet my face would be SCARY under that thing. People with dark skin really don't know how lucky they are that they don't have to worry about skin cancer like us redheads do....
Oh, yeah. Tree. Tree. The tree is unmoving and still--the way my thoughts should be.
Still, though--the house is trashed. I should have at least picked up the dishes before coming here.
Tree. Tree. Focus on the stinkin' tree, Jewel!
I hope Katie wakes up in time to help the kids get ready for the meet. I hope I didn't leave my phone on vibrate. I hope she doesn't sleep through the kids waking up and let the kids run out into the road.
Tree. Tree. I'm calm. I'm still. Like the tree.
But really though--Katie's a deep sleeper. If the kids wake up, odds are she won't hear them. And I left my phone with her, so I can't even call her. Maybe we should get a landline. I'll bet the kids have probably pulled all the knives off the counter and turned on the propane stove and I'll be lucky to be going home to anything other than a smoking crater where my house and children used to be!! I should have definitely made sure Katie woke up for reals before I came out here!
Tree. Tree. Everything will be fine. I need to stop blowing things up in my paranoid little imagination.
Mmm. It is really nice to sit here and have things be so quiet and peaceful. I'll bet I'm at least 3/4 mile away from the starting line. This chair is comfortable. I could probably take a quick nap before any runners ever get to this point--I haven't even heard the starter's gun yet.
Oh, yeah. The tree.
Tree. Stupid tree. It's not like it's even that interesting of a tree--I see junipers all the time. Now, if it was ANY other kind of tree, there'd probably be more to look at. But junipers are scrubby and boring.
But this one is pretty nice, for being a juniper, I guess. I wonder what they pay the landscaper here at this golf course to keep everything so nice. I wish I had a landscaper to come take care of my yard for me.
Tree. I need to think about the tree. Not landscapers. Dang it. This stuff is hard.
So apparently I'm not so good at this "Mindfulness" stuff. Now, mind-LESS-ness? That's something I feel I could be quite proficient in.
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