I resolve to be more mindful this year, to notice things more. Mindfulness and awareness of impermanence are two pillars of Buddhism that I can accept; it’s the karma thing that trips me up – kinda like the literal Noah’s Ark in the Christian tradition.
The down side to mindfulness is acute awareness of things that piss you off. So I’ve started a list. Maybe you can help add to it, and we can all get closer to Enlightenment.
Little things that piss me off:
1) Cookie sheets and muffin tins.
Who invented these? Do we still iron with 50lb cast iron? The cookie sheet is an unfortunate holdover from the woodstove oven era. It’s just too painful to “be in the moment” when scrubbing lava-like bits of crusty cookie from oven-warped aluminum. And muffin tins? Don’t get me started. Too many holes. Too much grief. Oh my back.
2) Unmatched socks.
About two years ago my psychiatrist told me I should let myself buy new socks. It’s a long story that also includes a plastic 4′ Frosty the Snowman. So every time I ran out of socks I bought more. Now I have two laundry baskets full of unmatched socks. Not only do I feel it’s somehow a crime against humanity to have so many unused socks when so many have none, but I’m sure if I tried to match them up I would need therapy again because at least half of them must have lost a match in the traditional, “disappearing sock” sense. So I’ve multiplied my misery. Perhaps this was the longterm intent of the psychiatric lesson.
more to come… fear not!
Do you have a suggestion?
