the watch of time

As we in Canada prepare for the first official holiday (attributable still, for some reason, to Queen Victoria) of the warmer weather cycle, many will be looking for relaxing ways to enjoy the time.

A list of topics, from an ad in Psychology Today concerning practicing meditation, could make an interesting adaptation to this first outdoors friendly, long weekend of the year…

• MINDLESSNESS = put away the business and economic journals, and break out the outrageous, fiction-laden pocketbooks
• MINDFULLNESS = remember where the business and economic journals were tossed, to be revisited nest week
• EXPECTATIONS = plenty of time to enjoy being busy with friends or family, or simply getting away from it all
• PREPARATION = know where the sunscreen, bug repellant, and ice are
• POSITION = assume postures of comfort
• BREATHING = don’t forget to keep doing it
• BODY = fewer clothes means more sucking in the stomach in public
• WALKING = calculate the shortest distance to lawn chairs or water, unless exercising to build up an appetite for a picnic or barbeque
• CONSUMING = most effective in a sitting position
• DRIVING = only as much as needed to get from A to B; hopefully not out of one’s mind with problems
• INSIGHT = have some sage observations at the ready, especially as others seek guidance after too much imbibing
• WISDOM = know when and to what degree to apply sage observations
• COMPASSION = be empathetic to those who may be too out of it to benefit from one’s sage observations
• IMPERFECTION = recognize that, if people let things hang out, it’s not always going to look good
• GENEROUSITY = be empathetic enough to know who needs an assist off the ground and who might need help to get there
• SPEECH = let glances speak whenever possible, especially if the mouth is filled with food or drink
• ANGER = practice counting to ten by fractions and see if annoyances still deserve reaction
• PAIN = except as a price for progress, try to avoid this in the context of one’s posterior or above the shoulders
• GRIEF = understand that Charlie Brown moments will come, but may be gone by the next panel
• LIFE (perspective) = know that, just as surely as this holiday will end all too soon, there’s another one coming again at the end of the next tunnel