Mindfulness on Little Things and Daily Routines

The Core Algorithm makes sure we have a sufficient grasp of an issue or problem, before embarking on a solution.  That grasp comes not just from a focused, analytic tact, but also from an intuitive, meditative state.  It is what some of us psychologists call mindfulness.  Simply being open to whatever is going on around us and within us, staying with it, and keeping our grounding and center are all being mindful.  Ideas, insights or solutions can thus arrive in logical fashion and-or as unexpected illumination in our mind.

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I keep a lot of files and folders on my laptop, over 67,000, in fact, and I keep them well organized in my hard drives.  On occasion I decide to rename a set of files, for example, and I want to do so accurately and efficiently.  If there is a root to the new file names, I copy and paste that, then add whatever I need to add to rename them.  Sometimes I have to click three or four times on the file icon, though, in order to prompt Windows to let me rename it.  But by simply being open and reflective, I learned that by clicking the icon once, then pausing for a second, before clicking it gently a second time, worked every single time.

One time I had a plumber in the house, and he explained why our bathroom and kitchen sink pipes were plastic.  I thought that was cheap of the builder.  He said, plastic was a better material, because then we could use something like Drano to clear the drains (if blocked).  Think about it, he said, the Drano solution is kept in a plastic container, so its chemical composition is meant not to harm the plastic pipes.  Anyway, on this point, sometimes my wife or daughter will simply dispose of that little sticker (brand label) on apples right into the sink.  I've seen those stickers, and they're plastic.  Not only will they clog up the drain, and mess up our disposal appliance, but also Drano won't dissolve them.  So every time I see them, I throw them in the trash.   

For me, and maybe for you as well, daily routines are an opportunity for thinking or reflecting.  It may be something I'm working on, something I need to resolve, something I must decide on.  Or it may be nothing all that important.  But by keeping a general mindfulness, I can get things done in my head and moreover, as I noted above, discover neat, useful little things about those very routines.