August 18, 2005
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Routine vs. Mindfulness
I’m all ready for my bi-weekly trip to Wasilla. I had my
bathwater hot and was pouring it into the camp shower bag before I
realized what I was doing this morning. A small splash of boiling
water on tender flesh can do that: bring you right around to
consciousness. After that, once I realized what was going on, I
made an effort to stay mindful.What was going on, of course, was routinization. I have been
doing this long enough to have a conditioned set of moves
programmed. If you’ve been doing the nine-to-five (or
three-to-eleven or graveyard shift) for any length of time, you
probably have a more strongly conditioned routine than I do.
Routine itself may be so routine to you that you don’t think about
it. To me, that’s sad. I’m sorry for you if that’s the case.I have read in several sources over the years that Virgos do well
in a routine. It’s not true for this Virgo, however. Maybe
it’s all that Libra in my chart: Moon, Mars, Venus, Neptune and
Midheaven and a couple of the major asteroids. For whatever
reason, if I fall into a routine I begin to feel dead. Maybe what
those astrologers noticed wasn’t that Virgos thrive on routine, but
rather that we tend to fall into routines rather easily. I dunno,
really. My battle cry is: “Trains run on schedules and on
tracks. Not me!”My intention for the rest of this day is to stay mindful. It’s
not only safer, but more interesting. It won’t stop the
back-of-the-mind internal dialogue completely, at least not for more
than a few moments at a time. If I can’t stop talking to myself,
maybe I can talk about what’s going on, anyway. Maybe I’ll be
able to see what’s there: the things I pass on the road, not just
novel new additions or seasonal changes, but some mundate details I
might have missed before or even might have appreciated and enjoyed
before and then became inured to.Seeya!
Comments (7)
and oddly enough I am (a gemini who is) quite mindful of my little routines. They keep me somewhat sane and get things done when my brain doesn’t quite connect or quiet enough for me to do them.
Yep. I’m one of those people who wakes up and says “Hmm. OK. Alarm went off, so it’s not Sunday. Alarm went off at 6:30 so it’s weekday. Weekday means the office job, and so I would like to do x y z and leave by 7:30.” Kind of like that.
Good luck being mindful today.
I hate routines, too, though I have no clear concept of why. *shrugs* The only time I seem to go into auto-pilot is when I’m driving, not that it’s a completely good or entirely bad thing. I’m good at stopping for red lights and avoiding other cars on auto-pilot, but then I forget where I’m going and wind up going the wrong way.
i get stuck in routines but i do better flying by the seat of my pants. i just got out of one of those scalding baths myself. they are wonderful if they aren’t the usual.
Kathy – I don’t like routine although I am mindful that it happens to me. I don’t drive the same route to work everyday, I don’t sit in the same place at meetings – I like to be mindful enough to shake things up just a bit each day.
You are such a delight. I don’t do well with routine, either, and I am easily bored and feel oppressed/stagnant (has more to do with than routine, such as my impulsive nature, but that’s part of it). I do have Moon and Ascendant in Aries and Leo. A lot of fire for a Cancer girl, and that may have something to do with it as well. Nor does my dearly departed Virgo do well with routine. The rest of the chart says a lot…
I hope you find and bask in those new things you see on the side of the road!
I’m Virgo and prosper under routines.
When I’m not in a routine, I’m all out of sorts.
Yeah, I’m with spinksy–remember when I was scrounging the roof off the old trailer? One reason I liked it so much was that it was like having a job–I left and came home at the same time, and knew in advance what I would be doing that day.
BTW, I wanto to borrow that CD, I’ll probably tape it to play in the car. Right now, listening to oldies like Can’t Hurry Love. Which reminds me, please pass on my request to DOug if you haven’t already done so.
Reminder–enter the last two CU deposits if you have not already done so. And let me know if/when you be coming this way this weekend, ‘specially if my Schrades be in the PO.
Take care and PAY ATTENTION.