“In today's rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.” ― Eckhart Tolle

In today's world, we get very caught up in drama. Drama often in our head. What people have, what we must do, where we must be. We spend time thinking about tomorrow or getting from A to B that we lose focus on what's important. Where we are right now.


Many years ago, someone selected Buddhism for Mothers of School Children. This is not something I would normally read, and there was a lot I could pick apart, but in the spirit of the text, I thought I'd try it out with the school lunches. For some reason making the school lunches was a real mood trigger for me. I'd get so irritated, and the joy sucked out of me over this small detail everyday. Given that I merrily packed lunches for day trips in the school holidays, I knew, as Jack Sparrow would say, that 'the problem isn't the problem, my attitude to the problem is the problem'. Focusing a little more on my attitude and the task at hand, did change the process a little.

Many years later I went to a Black Dog talk on how to recognise depression and one of the tips to help people was to get them to focus on the present. By taking in the immediate surroundings, it closed out the ruminating on the future. I like to take photos on the dog walks, and I have found it's made me literally zoom in my focus on my surroundings - on the light on the buildings, a flower in the garden, bees in the bushes and so forth. It is a quiet and peaceful time, even though the cars roar past up the main road.

I am not a particularly spiritual or zen person, but I am pretty happy. So I will leave you with a quote that I love, and is the clearest reminder of how to be mindful. In A Man without a Country, the brilliant Kurt Vonnegut says “And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.” By recognising when you are happy, and highlighting the appreciation of the moment in your mind or with others, you quickly build up a bank of these moments, and realise they far outweigh the others.

Linking with #FloralFridayFoto and #FridayBliss