MINDFULNESS

I was challenged by my therapist to practice mindfulness. Be more attentive to the world around me when I walk each day. Engage my senses.

I decided to put a constraint on the first walk. I would focus on the scents and smells I encountered (in order) as The Dog and I walked the neighborhood this evening.

Sweet and sour sauce.
Laundry dryer sheets.
Lightly grilled dates and figs.
Burnt toast.
Campfire of pine wood.
Marijuana smoke.
Gas fumes/exhaust from a leaky muffler.
Wet leaves.
Red licorice.
Waffle cones.
Teak.
Burnt match.
Candle wick.
Burnt cedar leaves.
Black walnut rinds.

All while walking the dark sidewalks and streets, illuminated here and there by the amber light of porch lights and windows, the blue light of enormous flat screen televisions. Beneath a nearly full moon trying to peek through the insistent clouds.