Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Right in Front of Me


Lately, life has been a bit out of balance. Like in a way that when you take a look at that pretty little wheel your career/life coach gave you, the work portion would be filled with black, ominous swirls, with tints of blue in the Mom section and a whole lot of nothing in the rest. In a way that dishes sit countertop from four days ago, calls from best friends enter a mean game of tag for over two weeks and you can’t remember the last time you had a real conversation with your husband that didn’t involve how to discipline a toddler who throws food or coordinating car pools and oil changes. This…

is not.good.

So, in my quest to restore some Zen-like tendencies back into the Team Choate household, I’m reverting back to some old rules:

1. No chatting on the phone, checking FB, texting or answering calls when baby is awake
2. Family eats at the dinner table. All together. And no throwing food.
3. Yoga and deep breathing (because really, meditation is truly pushing it)
4. Pausing on the walk out to the car in the morning to take in the silence and watch my baby’s eyes fill with wonder at the outdoors
5. Hitting the sack when hubby does so that real conversation can actually occur (that is in the 30 seconds we have before face hitting pillow and passing out from the day)
6. Working at home in the evenings no more than three nights per week (after bedtime of course)
7. TV off (unless the classical music station is on; ok, and Glee, Brothers and Sisters and The Bachelor…oh, and now American Idol)
8. Daily meditative reading before launching out of bed
9. Walking the dog in the silence of the snow (at least to the mailbox)
10. Consumption of wine. Or beer. Or whatever’s in the house.

This last one is a given, and one I’d completely forgotten about it in the past year. But when the hubs saw me go right for the wine rack when I hit the door today, he knew it was bad. Then, one glass in, it was good. So there you go - #10 is the answer to creating a more balanced, Zen-like state.

And to think it was right in front of me this whole time, patiently awaiting for a human touch from the past season’s parties, purchased for their labels and just waiting to be loved.

Cheers – to a more balanced life, one filled with love, laugh lines, small moments….and a whole lot of spirit(s).

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