So much for my attempt at mindfulness
I’ve read a lot in recent years about the benefits of being mindful. This is the process of concentrating on and enjoying one thing at a time and is the exact opposite of my usual multi-tasking. I have been trying to employ mindfulness since it’s supposed to relieve stress and actually make you more productive.
Last week, I went to the drug store to buy a new phone charger because my frayed cord finally quit working. While there, I couldn’t pass up a buy one-get-one half off sale on sunglasses. I always buy cheap sunglasses since I usually wind up losing or breaking them. With cheap sunglasses and phone cord in hand, I got into my car, ripped open the power cord, plugged it in and headed home.
A few days later, I reached for a pair of my cheap sunglasses and suddenly remembered I had two new pairs of shades.
But where were they? I couldn’t remember.
I started looking around the house and proceeded to spend about 20 minutes tearing everything apart and searching. I even looked through every nook and cranny of my car and still no sunglasses and no bag from the drugstore. I let out a heavy sigh realizing there was only one more place I hadn’t looked: the trash can.
Normally, this wouldn’t have been that big of a chore or that unpleasant of a task.
I had just emptied all of the trash cans in the house ahead of garbage pickup day. However, I had also just spent the day before clearing out an entire garbage can full of stuff from the garage and my dad’s decades-old workshop. The bin was packed full of old bits and bobs of handyman project leftovers and little scraps of wood that had been sitting in the garage for who knows how long.
I pulled off the trash bin lid and started digging with no luck.
I started sorting through everything again and got so frustrated I just tipped the bin over and dumped the contents out onto the garage floor. Still no sunglasses or drugstore bag.
Where could it possibly be?
I put all of the trash back in the can, popped on the lid and resigned myself to the fact that I had literally thrown away money because I didn’t practice mindfulness. Just then, a plastic bag on a shelf in the garage caught my eye.
Could it be? Yes!
There was the drugstore bag holding my new sunglasses. I burst into laughter thinking I must have have stashed it there when I got out of the car and saw something else in the garage that needed my attention. So much for being mindful. The case of the mysterious missing sunglasses has been solved.
Now, where did I put my car keys?
Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.