Taking a moment.
It's cold-cold again. The hens get all huddled up outside and tuck their beaks into their feathers, swan-style. That's what the least one calls it. Right now they're in their coop fussing to be let out. The big dogs have been running around out there, oblivious to the cold (in the 20's, I think). Youngest son just let the dogs back inside, but the chickens are fussing. It's warmer in the chicken coop, but they don't like to be shut in there in the daytime. They get downright cranky.
On to other things...
I ran across a quote in the Robert Benson Living Prayer book by the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh that rang a bell with me last night. The monk was asked what monks do, and he answered, "We walk and we sit and we eat." The other person asked, "Is that all?" The reply was, "Yes. But when we walk, we know we are walking, and when we sit, we know we are sitting, and when we eat, we know we are eating."
That made me stop and think. We've been sold a bill of goods about how we should multi-task all the time. Not sure if this is a modern-day thing, or what. I think it is. I've mentioned this before, but there's a Christian writer who wrote several books about multi-tasking, and getting as much done in a small stretch of time as possible. When I was a young mother, I bought into that method, but in the meantime, went slowly crazy. The problem with doing many things at once (at least for me) is that they don't get done well. The only reward is having quickly run a race. The benefit seemed small in relation to the nutty way my head and body would feel afterward.
Now I try to 'be in the moment' (don't like that phrase, but it seems to work), and do what I do right then and there. Not look too far ahead, but experience life in that small stretch of time. And it's HARD. Constant interruptions, and rare quiet make it a challenge to just pay attention to what's in front of me. But I'm happier when I do. Just. Do. Now. Only that.
