Thoughts on Mindfulness

I’ve been having a hard time being still lately.  Yes, I always have about four projects going at once, but I mean Still with a capital S.  Inner stillness.

I’m rushing about always getting frustrated that I can’t Get It All Done.  I’ve been dealing with child meltdowns nearly every day after school for the past few weeks.  Child meltdowns that lead to Mama meltdowns.  That time between four and seven p.m. is the most stressful of my day.  Trying to reconnect after a day apart, getting homework done, playing, and cooking dinner, all while everyone is just plain tired, is becoming stressful.

How am I ever to teach my children to be peaceful in the present moment when I cannot even manage to do that myself?  I really couldn’t figure it out.  Then it hit me.  It’s the same thing I’ve been struggling with for years.  It’s all about mindfulness.  I don’t have to teach my children to be peaceful in the present moment.  I have to be peaceful in the present moment.

It’s about the simple moments. All our children really want is for us as parents to be fully present with them. To be in the current moment. That’s the world kids live in and as adults it’s hard for us to do that–we are so concerned with the future and the past.

I have got to realize that I’m simply never going to get it all done.

So as a reminder to myself, I painted these words over the doorway between the dining room and kitchen, where I will be most likely to see it many times a day.