It’s a really good thing nobody has been around to watch me eat dinner the past 2 nights.
1) In a state of feverish hunger last night, I warmed up an Amy’s enchilada meal and steamed a couple cups of kale. Starving and more than ready to eat, I took my hot meal and headed toward the dining room to sit down. It’s exactly 1.5 steps from my kitchen to the dining room table and in that short distance, I managed to misjudge the edge of the table and send my meal flying face down on to my glass top dining room table.
Then I scraped it off and ate it.
2) I repeated a similar meal tonight – heated up some Trader Joe’s frozen pre-cooked grilled chicken strips and steamed some broccoli to go with it. Got everything on my plate, took it into the dining room and sat down. Grabbed a piece of broccoli and joyfully tossed it into my mouth only to spit it back out on to my plate.
It was hooooOOOTTTTTT.
Heh.
I really don’t mind when I have the place to myself from time to time. I really don’t watch much TV at all, but I spend lots of time tidying or taking hot baths just because I can. I read the day’s paper slowly and go to bed early (which means in about 20 minutes.)
But one thing for sure is that when all is quiet around me, I think a lot more. I have a lot more clarity of mind. And recently, I got to thinking about an internship I did about 10 years ago for a regional fitness company when I was in college. Despite it being a pretty awful experience in most other ways, there were two valuable lessons I learned from it:
1) Don’t confuse the words precarious and vicarious.
precarious adj. Having insufficient, little or no foundation
vicarious adj. taking the place of another person or thing; acting or serving as a substitute
The binders were not vicariously perched upon the table, they were precariously perched, looking like they were ready to fall. NOW WE ALL KNOW.
2) You have to take “flow time.”
The owner of the company would spend about an hour or 90 minutes in his office each morning and was not to be interrupted during this time. This was his flow time. This was when (he said) his best ideas came to him, he had an opportunity to be quiet in his thoughts and he had a chance to plan out the day ahead. At the time, I thought it sounded dumb (“You should just jumpstart the day and get moving as soon as you hit the ground!”) but now I see such value in it. I really like it when I get enough sleep that I’m able to actually get up a touch before my alarm and ease into the day peacefully and mindfully.
I don’t have an hour or 90 minutes each morning (and I’m not sure how my work would approve of me telling them I’m not to be bothered) but there’s some value in centering one’s self before tackling the day ahead. So I’m going to take advantage of this quiet time I have at home for a few days and go to bed early so I can start tomorrow refreshed.
Maybe after a bath.
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Haha, glad you didn’t burn your mouth on the broccoli! I’m glad no one watches me and judges me when I eat alone either. My thing is that I don’t want to cook a meal for myself so I dive into whatever is available and quick. I’ve had waffles or cereal dinner, cup of noodles, and many times a hodge-podge of leftovers. Oh, and then I typically watch cheesy girl shows like Say Yes to the Dress on TLC.
Wish I took more time to be quiet and still like you are doing!