Mindfully Falling Flat on my Face

In the interest of helping you, my reader, to learn from my life, I would like to tell you what happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

After a run on the Levee Trail down in Chesterfield Valley, Sid & I drove by the nearby shopping area & spotted a restaurant that we had never seen before. We decided that we would try it out that evening. (So far, so good, right?)

We came back to the restaurant around the time that the sun was low in the sky. I got out of our car with my dark sunglasses on (notice how I'm already making excuses for myself). The double doors to the restaurant were wide open since it was such a glorious day. As we walked toward those doors, I remember squinting, trying to see how things were arranged inside, so that I wouldn't go the wrong way or do anything else embarrassing. I was so busy trying not to be less than perfect, that I totally missed seeing a concrete curb right in front of me. The first thing I knew, I was airborne and landed hard (trust me on this) on my knees & hands! Amazingly those hands held my upper body up enough that I didn't smash my face into the concrete pavement. So, there I was, sprawled, face down, in front of a lovely Chesterfield restaurant. Sid leaned down to help me up. I gratefully sneered, "Stop! Don't touch me!" (We are still married inspite of this) At this point, I considered my options. I could just lay there, face down, until the restaurant closed & then slither away into the dark. That one was sounding pretty good to me until a wonderful waitress came running out to me. "Are you all right? How can I help you?" I gingerly began to try out my body, one muscle group at a time to assess the damage. Amazingly, everything was still working. The waitress and Sid walked me into the restaurant and over to a table. I gratefully noticed that all the patrons were busily looking at anything - other than me, to help me gather my wits, since my wits were still somewhat scattered around the parking lot at that point.

As I sat in my chair at our table, mindful awareness came over me as I became aware of a powerful sense of gratitude. I realized how fortunate I was that I had not done any serious damage, other than a couple of small bruises on my knees. I was grateful for Sid who was so concerned about me being okay. I was grateful for the waitress who was not afraid to come running out to my aid.

I was sharing this story with my daughter, Jessica, at lunch a couple of days later and she said, "You know, Mom, falling flat on your face in front of a crowd of people is probably 1 of our worst nightmares, but yet the overwhelming feeling that you came away with was gratitude."

She's right. Every time I happen to remember this incident, I am filled with that wonderful feeling of gratitude.

This is another example in my life of how being able to slow down in the midst of a troubling event, bringing mindfulness to whatever is happening in the moment, allows me to move out of a contracted self-conscious state into a state of gratitude for whatever I have.

TRYING TO HOLD ONTO SUMMER

Today is a beautiful, bright, blue-skied day. I am thrilled. I love, love, love summer. Before I go to work, I go for a 4 mile run/walk on the Chesterfield Levee Trail. I will never set any speed records, but I do try to soak up every delightful sign of summer being in full swing. I greet all the dragonflies zooming back & forth over the trail. I delight in the brilliant colors and scents of wildflowers along the way. I use the sounds of birds & insects as my personalized IPOD. Even though it is hot and humid and I am soaked at the end, I feel ALIVE - which I've found at my age is a good way to feel!

There is only 1 problem with all of this summer-based ecstasy. It does not last forever. As you may have noticed, summer turns into autumn which turns into dark, dreary, bone-chilling winter here in Missouri. Perhaps you are picking up on a lack of appreciation for winter in me.

Since this whole seasonal bias thing has been going on with me for a while, I actually have some wisdom to share about this subject.

Here it is: Everything is impermanent. When we try to hold onto and grasp onto what we really like, we end up suffering, in the long run. We all grow older, get sick, lose people we love - it's inevitable. And, yes, winter with all of its dreariness does seem to come back every year. The remedy for this dilemma is to really be grateful for and mindful of what we have while we have it. My temptation is to rock my boat when I'm enjoying my run by thinking, "Well, pretty soon all the green grass & green leaves will be gone & I'll be stuck in the house!" That thought sucks all the pleasure out of my run instantly. It sure doesn't change the seasonal process, but it does change my mood which plummets.

So what is the lesson here as far as MINDFUL EATING is concerned? When we taste something that we really like, we want that good taste and good feeling to last forever. We want to grasp onto and hold onto it. We forget about whether we have had enough and are satisfied. We want that "party in our mouth" to go on forever! All good parties must come to an end. That is the sad truth.

Savor the taste of food that you really enjoy, and learn that it's okay to say, "That's enough". You will feel so much better afterwards.

Impermanence

Do you remember how excited I was about Spring being here & how excited I was about the wonderful warm weather that was engulfing us here in St. Louis? Well, guess what? It was in the 70's around 2PM & then strong winds blew winter back into town! As I write, it's in the 40's. Now, I know perfectly well that this is the nature of Spring where we live. It happens every year. BUT YET, once again I feel like Charlie Brown falling over and over again for Lucie's false promises. I do know that this cold weather will be impermanent & give way to Spring in its own time.

My thoughts about impermanence have been stimulated by the catastrophe in Japan. I can't find the words to describe how devastating the images that have come out of there are to us as viewers. So many clients are expressing their sorrow and sense of helplessness to me in sessions. It has touched all of us deeply.

Once again we are graphically reminded that there is so much that is out of our control, no matter how technologically advanced we are. Japan had done just about everything possible to prepare for earthquakes and tsunamis since they knew that they were vulnerable. However, nothing could hold back the horrific surge of water that wiped out so many communities and lives.

Life is fragile. This event is one more reminder of that fact. We can panic and try to protect ourselves even more than we are. Or we can be grateful for all that we have - for every day that dawns, no matter what the temperature.

Today my beautiful grand daughter, Julia has turned 10. She is so very full of life and she also can be amazingly wise. She sits back & listens & then will come up with an assessment that seems way beyond her 10 years.

I am full of gratitude for having such a full life with a wonderful, loving husband, healthy Mom, 4 beautiful children (counting spouses), 5 fabulous grandchildren, best dog ever, Susie, great friends and wonderful clients.

I am encouraging you to stop right now and mindfully reflect on what you are grateful for having in your life. Even though it might be impermanent, it is here now.

Spring is Bustin' Out All Over!

Happy Spring to all of my readers. The above title is what I usually sing to my daughter's voicemail on the first beautiful day that we have. Today the temperature has climbed up into the high 70's here in St. Louis, MO.

It's amazing how in a blink the winter blahs vanish. There are signs of Spring everywhere. I love to make it my business every year to try to find every single one of them. It seems to be so reassuring. I've survived another winter. Life goes on and I'm still a part of it. I'm so very grateful.

Today Sid, Susie & I went for a run/walk on a trail that goes from the Research Park in St. Charles Co. down to the KATY trail. We went a mile out on the trail until we decided that we had better head back for Susie's sake. We didn't want her to get too tired. Yeah, right! When Sid & I think that we're running at such a great pace, we look down at Susie & she's walking - just walking & ahead of us!!! Okay, the truth is out - Sid & I didn't want to overdo it so early in Spring. There's time for that later when it's in the upper 90's.

Today I would like to encourage each and every one of you to slow down by taking a nice, deep breath - Yes, right now - noticing the sensation of your breath as it comes in at the tip of your nose, travels all the way down into your lower chest & then back up and out. Notice how the air is cool as it comes in at the tip of your nose and then is warmed by your body so that it is warmer as it leaves your body through the tip of your nose. Isn't that amazing? It's one more thing that we take for granted in this wonderful life that we have. When we take this mini-timeout for ourselves, we are able to see more clearly. When we can see clearly, we can make our wisest choices. This certainly applies to mindful eating choices.

It feels good to join with you on this first day of Spring. It's a day of hope and promise of more good things to come.
-Cheryl