The Fierce Little Mind Dance

When I woke up this morning my monkey mind was sitting there, waiting to pounce.  I woke up at 4:00 AM sharp and was lying there in bed, sliding into the morning when in rapid succession my mind through up first one set of negative thoughts, then another, and another.  Each of them was work related, but they each were nothing I could do anything about at 4:00 AM.  Then, to complicate the dance of the monkey mind, when I tried to let each issue rise up naturally, so it could be considered, I mentally jumped to another subject.  It was a pretty fierce little mind dance to start the day.

I got up and meditated for a while, there in the morning darkness, until my mind settled a bit.  Then, I padded around the dark apartment for a while, just stretching and being “present”, settling into the feel of my body as I walked.  After I stilled a bit, I opened the patio door and stepped out onto the patio.  I stood there for a couple of minutes and let the cool morning air totally embrace me.  Somewhere in the distance a single bird was singing, softly. 

Then, back into the apartment, into a hot shower.  I came out of the shower, wrapped myself in a towel, and then stood there in front of the mirror, shaving.  I’ve switched over to shaving with a classic safety razor and, after some practice, I am getting pretty good at it.  There is peace in the zen ritual of classic shaving - the hot towel, the shaving brush and lather, the smooth slide of the razor.

So, showered and shaved and in somewhat better condition, mentally. I started the day. Breakfast was a bowl of Special K and a cup of coffee.  The commute in was smooth.  In work my monkey mind continued it’s dance for a while, so I hit it with another 10 minutes of classic zen mediation, sitting and staring at the wall, sliding back into the moment.

I’ve started the weaving dance of meetings and teleconferences, so I am hoping to stay better centered in the moment as I go through the day. I’ve got a fairly full slate of meetings this morning, but a more settled afternoon.  Lets see if I can make it through this without the continuation of the fierce little mind dance.