“It takes courage to change routines, even minor ones, but more fully living each moment is what’s at stake. Even if a routine is useful, that doesn’t mean it has to be mind-numbing. Enter each routine today with the intention and freedom to experience it directly, consciously – without falling into habit or letting your mind travel elsewhere while your body moves automatically. For example, do you know what color socks you are wearing at this moment? What color are the buttons on your blouse our shirt? Is there anything unique about the stitching or fabric?
Lots of unexpected – and sometimes unfortunate – things can happen when we get robotic. I have a good friend who told me that he got dressed one morning, made his coffee, got into his car, and headed to work. He had traveled several miles when he noticed his legs were cold. He glanced down and discovered that he had forgotten to put on his pants! Now there was a wake-up call to be present – fortunately, not a disastrous one. If we’re not careful, routines can rob us of the experience of the next minute.”
Donald Altman, in “One Minute Mindfulness”
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Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.
