I have to start living my life this way.

I’m a beginner, and am only cultivating this approach now. I’m no expert. I’m a wanna-be. Aspiring Mindful Mommy.

In my scattershot attempts at being more calm and pleasant when sleep deprived, I have learned a few things.  One is that 10 minutes matters.

If I throw myself into the activity, I can do anything for 10 minutes except hold my breath.

What are some things I have surprised myself by being able to do in 10 minutes, when I so didn’t feel like doing it?

  • Write a great argument between my hero and heroine. It may have startling similarites to the argument I had with my husband the preceding night. That will be pure coincidence.
  • Play Captain Hook for the 45th time. In a day. With a willing spirit.
  • Play stay calm. ~ Say, then show, I’m sorry.
  • Fold the socks. Just the socks. Lord, we have a lot of socks.
  • Go out back and smell the air. Just close my eyes and smell and feel the air on my face and breathe. (Admittedly, this occurs when my son is in the bathroom. LOL If he saw me sitting still, doing nothing, that would obviously mean I needed a play partner and he’d come right over, affable fellow that he is. :-) )

Of course, if I want, in 10 minutes, I can also . . .

  • Shout
  • Say something I regret but can’t take back
  • Hurt someone’s feelings
  • Do something to a relationship will take months to repair
  • Feel entitled

Hmmm . . . This part of the list could go on for awhile.
:-)

I have found my emotions to be contagious things.  Actions, too.

Whatever I’m doing, I tend to do more of it. Whatever I’m feeling, I tend to feel more of it.

There’s a concept in physics that applies to our emotional lives as well . . . Inertia.

Things in motion tend to stay in motion, and things at rest tend to stay at rest, unless acted upon by another force. And those thing in motion? They tend to stay in motion, going the same direction. They have a trajectory.

Anger gets me more angry. Calmness gets me more calm. Unmotivated gets me more . . gack, unmotivated.  Ack!

If I’m not FEELING it, I can usually DO it for at least 10 minutes, at the end of which I often AM feeling it. Or at least, more like it than I was 10 minutes ealrier.

Now, I’m not talking about ‘stuffing’ out feelings, or living a pretend life, where you act like everything is okay when it’s not.  This is different. This is about throwing myself into a single moment with a willing spirit.

I just keep telling myself that, at the end of 10 minutes, I can unleash my righteous indignation & impatience on the world, and boy, will they be sorry then. See? I’m all grown up. :-)

Write a scene, play spiderman, calm down, clean up, sniff the stars.

I can do anything for 10 minutes. I’ll be furious in 10 minutes, promise. Or . . . Maybe not.

the-conqueror1How about you?  What little rules or systems help you get by?

~Kris