{"id":52,"date":"2015-02-12T19:21:18","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T19:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/?p=52"},"modified":"2015-03-22T21:07:53","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T21:07:53","slug":"mindful-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness at Safeway \u2013 Asleep in the Dairy Aisle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mindfulness<\/a>

Does this remind you of the Taoist Yin Yang Symbol?<\/p><\/div>\n

Mindfulness Isn’t Easy<\/h3>\n

You can’t just all of a sudden decide to become mindful. I discovered\u00a0that one day at Safeway.<\/p>\n

I had been practicing regularly at the San Francisco Zen Center for a few years. One day as I pulled into my local Safeway parking lot to get a quart of milk I got the brilliant idea that would prove my developing Zen cred. I would remain mindful of my every thought and action from the time I left my car, purchased\u00a0my milk, and arrived back at my car. It could not be so hard I told myself. After all I had been practicing Zen for years.<\/p>\n

Fools Errand<\/h3>\n

So off I went, mindfully locking my car, mindfully proceeding to the store entrance and mindfully walking toward the dairy\u00a0case\u2026until suddenly I was\u00a0home with my milk!<\/p>\n

It was like a sober blackout. I had been home for a while before I even remembered the challenge I had set for myself. I didn’t remember anything about my mindfulness\u00a0excursion after I approached\u00a0the store entrance. I didn’t even remember my vow\u00a0to do it until I was home. I knew I had shopped because Safeway\u2019s milk was in my refrigerator. But what what was I thinking about the rest of the\u00a0time? Sadly I have no idea.<\/p>\n

Of course, upon reflection, my failure\u00a0makes perfect sense. Often when meditating and counting my breaths I don\u2019t even make it to 10. And that\u2019s in the silence of my meditation room. An attempted mindful excursion into a major retail chain full of harried consumers is much\u00a0more difficult. So I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.<\/p>\n

So Why did I Come in Here?<\/h3>\n

This reminds me of a similar thing that happens every now and then. It may have happened to you. I\u2019m sitting at my desk, a little hungry and remember the half a burrito in my refrigerator that I brought home from the restaurant last night\u00a0. So I get up and purposefully stride toward the kitchen, and upon arriving I find myself standing in the kitchen\u00a0thinking \u201cWhy did I come in here\u201d? I have to retrace my steps and before I get all the way back to my office I remember.<\/p>\n

Events like these aren’t necessarily senior moments. They just a lack of mindfulness. They’re similar to \u00a0my Safeway experience. On my way to get my burrito, I start thinking\/worrying\/obsessing about something else, completely losing track of my original goal. It\u2019s the exact opposite of mindfulness. This tends to happen more often if I\u2019m stressed. The solution is simply to pay attention to what I\u2019m doing moment-to-moment.\u00a0Easier said than done, especially at a crowded supermarket.<\/p>\n

But mindfulness is important. It might even safe your life! How many auto accidents and trip and fall incidents are caused by lack of mindfulness?<\/p>\n

I’ve learned it’s better to begin your mindfulness excursions under controlled conditions. With\u00a0meditation for instance. Over time your meditation\u00a0experience will begin to slowly affect\u00a0your everyday life though a kind of mindful osmosis.\u00a0Begin in a quiet room. Then tackle Safeway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness Isn’t Easy You can’t just all of a sudden decide to become mindful. I discovered\u00a0that one day at Safeway. I had been practicing regularly at the San Francisco Zen Center for a few years. One day as I pulled into my local Safeway parking lot to get a quart of milk I got the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMindfulness at Safeway -- Asleep in the Diary Aisle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How I learned an important lesson about mindfulness in the crowded aisles of a major supermarket chain.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mindfulness at Safeway -- Asleep in the Diary Aisle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How I learned an important lesson about mindfulness in the crowded aisles of a major supermarket chain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"20-Minute Vacation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-12T19:21:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-22T21:07:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Safeway-Logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gary Buzzard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/\",\"name\":\"20-Minute Vacation\",\"description\":\"Relax with Us\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Safeway-Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Safeway-Logo.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/\",\"name\":\"Mindfulness at Safeway -- Asleep in the Diary Aisle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-12T19:21:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-22T21:07:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/86bd501da447c3558a0bfe5fa76c6236\"},\"description\":\"How I learned an important lesson about mindfulness in the crowded aisles of a major supermarket chain.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/mindful-living\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Mindfulness at Safeway \\u2013 Asleep in the Dairy Aisle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/86bd501da447c3558a0bfe5fa76c6236\",\"name\":\"Gary Buzzard\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/GaryAvatar-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.20-minutevacation.com\/20mv-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/GaryAvatar-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Gary Buzzard\"},\"description\":\"A former corporate exhibit manager and massage therapist, Gary lives in San Francisco with his wife, Marina. 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