I woke up at 6 a.m. to my hips and thighs aching, not unusual after a long weekend. I tossed and turned a bit, took my pain meds, then tried the heating pad. Today is a holiday for crying out loud, President’s Day to be exact, and I so badly wanted to sleep in with the rest of the family. But when I couldn’t stand it any longer I got out of bed, grabbed my laptop, and trudged my way to the living room where I reclined my reading chair and decided to look over the emails I (un)intentionally ignored over the weekend.
However, I tend to get sidetracked and an hour later I was perusing the White House Historical Association’s website, wondering how I got there in the first place. I traced it back (as best as I could remember) to it starting innocently enough on my MSN homepage. My intentions were good, but before I signed in to my email, I saw the evil slideshow that stopped me dead in my tracks, like always. First pause and click: “Meth in Bra Leads to $712m Seizure”. Then, “ Malawi Gets Its First Grammy Nomination, With Album by Prison Inmates”. Followed by a story about how a rescue dog became mayor. I mean, come on, I had to know how that happened. I was just about to shift gears when I saw “Strange Facts About Every American President.” So in honor of President’s Day I figured I should read it. You know, out of respect. That somehow led me to reading a tweet from Hillary Clinton, and somewhere between there and here I ended up reading useless facts about the White House. But did you know that the most famous of the White House ghosts is Abraham Lincoln? Well, if you didn’t, you do now.
I have yet to read one single email.
But I did manage to waste and hour of my life. But then again, I learned some things. And learning is good, right?
Finally I realized it was time to truly wake up to the day. I’d had my fill of both dark and uplifting news stories, tempting links to Wikipedia, and all the other website diversions that seem loosely joined for no other purpose than to keep me unfocused, emotional, numb, or all of those things at once. Or perhaps none of those things at all.
The sun is shining, at least for the moment, a promise of a productive day. I have a list of things I need to get done and as I mentally tick them off one by one I can only think of a few things on that list that is truly important today;
Get some vitamin D (which I am deficient in) by spending some time outside with the family. Maybe I’ll even hug a tree, and if I ask nicely maybe it will allow me to suck in some of its vitality. That sounds really good right about now.
Work on the quilt I’m making for my daughter’s birthday gift from me. I have two weeks to get it finished and for once I’d love to finish a project ahead of schedule instead of pulling a painful all-nighter.
Other important to-dos:
Take a nap.
Make some scones.
Eat a scone.
Straighten up my altar.
Play cards with the family.
Eat another scone.
Try not to take another nap.
Choose a working Tarot deck for the week.
That’s about it. I understand that some of these may seem like distractions from what I probably should be doing but I have the rest of the week to worry about those things I don’t really want to do. Like laundry. Blech. The way I see it at the moment is that If we all have clean underwear, it can wait another day. Besides, all of the other things “to-do” are necessary to set my Spirit straight and kick my butt in gear for the week. I hope.
What’s on your to-do list today? I hope you can find time and a willing tree to hug today too. We could all use and share the love.
Many Blessings on Your Journey )O(
The Zen Witch 
I love the title to this post – it could easily have been ‘Zen, and the Art of Distraction’ 🙂 I think distractions are good things – they keep us from developing tunnel vision, and remind us that there is more to life than a goal. A Zen expression I’m very fond of is, “If you seek it, you will not find it.” I think distraction puts us in a better position to find what we need to find, rather than what we might want to find … this is one of the strengths I have noticed with tarot cards, for example, in that the cards are random and show us often enough those things we might have deliberately not allowed ourselves to see. Distractions in our day-to-day can have the same effect. They also give us a better vibe for everything that’s going on … a spider, for example, doesn’t stare at a single point, nor does it focus on a single strand of its web. Distraction isn’t always negative … at its root, the word simply implies a separation from something, not abandonment 🙂
Embracing trees, and just sitting under them, happens to be one of my favorite ways to ground and draw some strength, too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really enjoyed your comment Stormwise!
Mindful living isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world and can be downright exhausting at times. Distraction is definitely a welcome reprieve from mundane living. Some of my best creative ideas have come to me during a quick getaway on the Distraction Express that sometimes travels to exotic places like La La Land (I just love La La Land!). My only problem is when I get lost and miss the return train (and I get the kids up late for school as a result). I think I need a timer 🙂
Your insight on the the Tarot is one of the many reasons I love it so much. The imagery helps us find that place between mindfulness and mindlessness where I believe our true intuition lies.
Have a great weekend!
P.S, Did you have to bring up spiders? Aaaagghh!
LikeLiked by 1 person