One Thing

 

After reading Gretchin Rubin's latest book, Happier at Home, I decided to discover some simple rules like she had which I could follow to make my life happier.  Instead of writing them in a journal, though, I would write them on the bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker where they'd be the first thing I'd see in the morning and would be right in front of my face periodically throughout my day. The first rule I selected is what I call "one thing."

"One thing" is the idea that you can only really ever do one thing at a time. It's been called the practice of "mindfulness" or "attention"--what spiritual guru, Ram Dass, called "being here now." Mindfulness has gotten a lot of press. It's made it's way from a new age, hip, Eastern-inspired spiritual discipline to main stream psychiatry where it's being used to treat everything from chronic pain to depression to addictive disorders. I became interested in it as a way to bring spiritual discipline and awareness into my daily life.

Too often I've found myself cranky, impatient and stressed out by my "to do" list.  "One thing" helps me step back and take a breath--I can enjoy the feel of hot, soapy water and the smell of the dish soap when I wash up after supper instead of feeling crabby that I've got a sink full of dishes to finish on the way to some other chore. I can focus on the story my 14-year-old is telling me instead of mentally fast-forwarding to my next appointment. I can relish the feel of my husband's hand in mine and not get distracted by the mental chatterbox in my head. And the funny part is, when I focus on just one moment at a time and eek out all the sensory richness of it, time seems to slow down. I may not always get more accomplished, but the day feels more complete and, well, holy. It turns out, "one thing"really can make a difference, one thing at a time.