Stay!

Stay is a tricky one. The PoochBuddha develops staying power through long practice and patient-loving-kindness. The Muse can stay seated for a few minutes on a good day and is soon distracted by, oh, pretty much anything.

I can relate.

The Muse in a very impressive Stay among the Spring Trillia

Easy to sit, challenging to stay sitting. Easy to start, challenging to stay on to the finish. Easy to stop, challenging to stay stopped...

These days, we are bombarded with distractions.

[ Dis-Traction: suddenly whatever traction we were gaining through focus and attention is lost. (Hmmm... does that mean that Abs-Traction is a good thing?) (wait - that was a distraction right there) (Whoa... too many brackets!) (Oh look, string* ) ].

The antidote to distraction is mindful awareness, so that we return our focus to the one person//thing/task right in front of us. Breathing in and breathing out is a good place to start. Focusing on and returning to the breath is a way to stay.

PoochBuddhas prefer mindfulness over multi-tasking. One task, one conversation, one challenge, one day at a time.

Simple but not easy. Stay.


[* Borrowed with gratitude from a favourite client -- she knows who she is :-)]