Tired but happy

So, after yet another absence, here I am back from a conference (well, workshop) in Japan where I managed to succumb to pneumonia and end up on antibiotics and stuck in my hotel room. Then I came home and got more antibiotics and more time off. Argh! But I did finish my Master's in Information Studies (phew) and am regaining a degree of health. I've worried about friends in NZ and Japan.

I've also met the very charming and mind-blowing RP, who constitutes the "happy" part of this post.  I rarely meet people with whom I can be so at ease right from the start, and I am constantly amazed at how his (very intelligent) mind works and the many common interests we share. I think I'll stop before I go all mushy. Suffice to say, I am not at all in a calm, meditative mood, and my mind is leaping here and there.

Next time I might even post something relevant to the blog. How unusual.

Mindfulness

One of my goals this year is to work on mindfulness.... well, how do I do that? This great post from Zen Habits is useful:

from www.zenhabits.net

I've linked to Leo Babauta's http://mnmlist.com/ before, and this post and list of ways to develop mindfulness are in his inimitable style. I particularly like this one:

4. Put space between things. Related to the “Do less” rule, but it’s a way of managing your schedule so that you always have time to complete each task. Don’t schedule things close together — instead, leave room between things on your schedule. That gives you a more relaxed schedule, and leaves space in case one task takes longer than you planned.

It reminds me of Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette story about only buying her children ice cream occasionally - that way it makes the "going out for ice cream" event special, and more meaningful. She likens it to the mat between a picture and the frame. Placing space between events/objects/etc allows them to be so much more interesting and different from everyday life, and therefore more appreciated.

Sunny recently posted about saving money - but I read mindfulness into her post, too. When you are mindful of where your resources go, you can expend them in whichever ways are most meaningful to you. Sunny mentions forgoing the daily bought-on-autopilot coffee, and putting that money towards a future hot air balloon ride.

Small considerations such as ice cream, coffee, and creating space in your life around events helps to value each one more. Not sweating the small stuff, but making the most of it, and appreciating it all.

And I can't mention food without remembering this Basho poem:

Oh bush warblers!
Now you've shit all over my
rice cake on the porch

--Matsuo Basho

鶯や餅に糞する縁の先　（uguisu ya / mochi ni funsuru / en no saki）