So you may have read last night’s post about how I was full of calm and mindfulness after yoga.
Unfortunately, by the time the morning came, that mindfulness had slipped away (although, for the record, I did get back to my morning visualization of energy moving through me), but not in the way you might expect. I wasn’t upset or frustrated by anything. But, I got to work and was thinking how I was actually still full from my oatmeal when that pesky feeling came up on me that started whispering that I might have forgotten to turn the stove off.

You’ve all been there, right?! On your way to work, no one else is at home, and you suddenly think you left the curling iron on or the front door unlocked. Nine times out of 10, when you go back to check it, all is well and said curling iron is unplugged and the door securely locked.

I always think that if it was just my house, I wouldn’t be so worried, but living in a building of condos, with my unit being owned by my friend, I was really not willing to be responsible for displacing dozens of people.

So, thankful that my work is less than 10 minutes away from home, I slipped out after an hour or so (the place could have already been burning down, right?), reluctant to share my paranoia with my coworkers.

And you know what? You guessed it: The stove was off.

It was the second that I can remember leaving work to check on something like this, knowing that things are probably fine, but bothered that I can’t visualize the act of turning the hot thing off or locking the door.

This got me thinking about advice that a friend gave me years ago, passed on from someone he knew. He said he learned to slow down and just take a moment to allow his brain to register what he was doing and be aware. It’s hard to absorb every action and mark it in your mind as done because everyday tasks inevitably become, yes, mindless, and mechanical.

But I am going to revisit that effort to be mindful of those little daily tasks to hopefully prevent time wasted on worry and gas being guzzled during needless treks home. Join me? Or share your own tips for being mindful of simple, everyday tasks?