Operation Achieve Anything: Day Seventy-Six, Dateline 3-17-2018

Fundamentally mindfulness is a simple concept. Its power lies in its practice and its applications. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth, and transformation.
— Jon Kabat-Zinn

Hey Crickets. Welcome to day number seventy-six of Operation Achieve Anything. I was supposed to be taking this weekend off to head up and stay at my oldest sister’s house but our plans were postponed for a week due to a monkey wrench in our plans. That said, I’m still in time off mode and even though I would have had to write this post, either way, I mainly just want to get it over with so I’m just going to jump write in.

For yesterday’s assignment, I was supposed to continue practice living in the moment and then list the top ten things that I noticed. Again, since I’m a shut-in who works from home, this was a tough one considering that I am so used to my surroundings that even when I focus in it’s hard to find anything of interest that stands out but here’s what I’ve managed to come up with for a list of ten things that I experienced with all of my senses.

  1. I bought a California burrito which is a carne asada burrito with french fries in it. This style became popular while I was living in Seattle so it’s not all that common to me. At first, I was excited because this was my first meal after being broke for a week only to end up disappointed because of how the potatoes dull down the other tastes from the meat, cheese, and guacamole.
  2. I also got a fish taco which tasted amazing, especially following the burrito. Either way, I enjoyed both because aside from the taste, I was starving so the feeling of filling myself up was amazing.
  3. Since yesterday was a Friday leading into a weekend that I planned to take off, I gave in and, like I plan for today, I ended up doing the bare minimum when it came to my work and spent the rest of the day goofing off. I don’t know what it is, but my chair feels so much more comfortable when I don’t have to work and am just using my workspace for self-entertainment purposes.
  4. Though I did stick to doing the bare minimum, I was pretty proud of the work that I did fit in. There’s no better feeling than being in a groove, which I might not have been in while writing yesterday’s Achieve Anything… post, but I felt great while I was working on my other projects.
  5. Once I finished my work, as I said in item number three, I sat in my extra comfy chair while watching some funny YouTube videos that led to a lot of laughter that felt good.
  6. I also fit in a nap that bordered on a slumber that also had me feeling very relaxed.
  7. If the nap wasn’t enough, cuddle time with the dog added to my sense of comfort.
  8. Being that it was Friday, my family was busy, but what little time that I spent with them was nice and broke up the monotony of being alone throughout the rest of the day.
  9. Once family time was over, I went back to my room and had an end of the day smoke session which had me feeling really good.
  10. While high, I then tracked down a Craig Mack song, since he died the other day, and enjoyed both his music and the nostalgia that it inspired.

Once again, I’m not fully sure if this is what the assignment really wanted but I’m going to consider the task to be fulfilled. As for today’s assignment, we are back to yet another thought experiment where I’m supposed to continue to practice living in the moment only I’m supposed to ramp it up to the next level. This assignment might be the vaguest one yet, to the point where I’m not fully sure what it means other than the fact that the book wants me to read today’s quote over and over again.

Oh well, we’ll see what I managed to come up with in order to fulfill the task when I check in tomorrow with my update. Until then, it’s now that time for me to wrap this thing up by saying, good day and good luck to you and all of your projects.

Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

The Wicker Breaker

P.S. Below are links to my novel, which I plan to promote as part of Operation Achieve Anything, as well as a link to where you can buy the book that is providing the structure to this project in case you would like to purchase it in order to play along.