I’ll have a cup of Mindfulness please.
I was blessed to have all of my immediate family together for the holiday weekend. Considering we all live about 1000 miles away from each other in several different directions, that is some awesome feat.
Because this makes it so rare, I have a tendency to want to make it a “perfect” weekend; to do everything to make it wonderful and memorable. And to get in all of the favorites. Favorite foods, favorite activities, favorite memories, you name it. And that pressure tends to make everything go haywire.
Like the Christmas when we had a short day to get our celebrating in. I wanted to do the yummy breakfast with hot homemade waffles, eggs and bacon, etc. Then dinner of roasted turkey and homemade stuffing, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, desserts, and more.
Making breakfast threw off timing for the turkey which threw off timing for the stuffing which made everything rushed and served before it was ready. That left us with stomachs stuffed from breakfast facing a turkey that was “done” but a little less than the beautiful golden desired. And the stuffing was rushed too so it ended up mushy and without the signature finish. Not really the “perfect” dinner I had hoped for. Especially as one of a family of foodies who love to cook.
So this weekend, we didn’t cook. At all. Not even once. No pressure to perform or get things done on time or cover everyone’s favorite foods. We didn’t rush anywhere. We didn’t worry about getting one thing done to start the next one. We just sat together and visited. Or went places and enjoyed activities and scenery. Now we did have a dinner malfunction when we drove an hour for dinner at a local attraction only to find out the wait would be another two hours.
It was frustrating but we all googled our next choices, jumped in the car, and half an hour later we were eating.
So all weekend, instead of running around trying to make the visit wonderful, I sat and enjoyed the wonderful visit. I was really actually there, listening, laughing and taking in every delightful moment of joy with my family. I was really there for the full 48 hours of the visit. Not every moment was joyful. There were some frustrations (especially when we were starving) and a couple of disappointments.
But being mindful to really be there and choosing not to be stressed about whether they were stressed about my being stressed about whether they were stressed, let me be in those moments.
And more relaxed, because it was what it was. Not perfect, but real. And we were all mindful to really be here, as much as we could. So when they left it was a little easier. Not easy to let them go but easier than if I had not really soaked in every golden drop of the weekend. I think I will remember all of the moments of this weekend more, because I was really there. Mindfully there.
It wasn’t about whether or not I cooked. It was about whether I was really there in the moment of what was happening. Right then. That was my mindfulness moment, mindfulness weekend, mindfulness victory.
My one regret – I forgot to take a single picture. But I do that when I’m not being mindful too. I guess I will have to be mindful of the memories etched in my mind. 🙂
PS To my family: Thanks for being there!
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