Dear Royal Friends,
I have always thought that multi-tasking is to mindfulness what life is to a box of chocolate with a flavor guide under the lid: since you do know whatchyur gonna git, life isn’t like a box of chocolates. In other words, multi-tasking and mindfulness don’t go together. Multi-tasking is to Eckhart Tolle like “not gonna” is to “happen.”
When you are multi-tasking, you are not present in the here and now. You are everywhere but here and now.
This is a pretty confusing idea when considering the alternative as stated by Gertrude Stein: “there is no there there.”
Who among us busy princesses doesn’t want to multi-task? Multi-tasking is a very seductive solution when you’re bat-crap busy. But the new way of thinking about mindfulness and being present makes multi-tasking fall into the “shouldn’ts” side of the score board. Do you find yourself muttering, “I know I shouldn’t be multi-tasking like this. I should be doing one thing at a time so I am being more mindful and present in the moment. But just let me fix this nail, while I order from Whole Foods, while I cut up bananas and papaya for my smoothie, while I pack the kids’ lunch for tomorrow, while I edit this memo, while I let the dog out…ad infinitum.”
I had an epiphany this morning, born of necessity being the mother of in(ter)vention. How to do Zen’d out beauty multi-tasking! You see, this week I had the sniffles and had to miss my bi-monthly uber facial. The place I go to is so popular, they can’t fit me in for another month! As I was coming out of my twenty-minute mantra meditation this morning and my mind was bubbling up from deep relaxation, one of the little bubbles gave me an idea. I have on my vanity table a do-it-yourself face peel that you slop on, let it dry for 20 minutes, then peel it off. Twenty-minute face peel; twenty-minute meditation. Are you seeing what I’m seeing? Zen’d out multi-tasking!
Why don’t I slap on a face mask peel right before I mediate! I can’t do anything anyway in the next twenty minutes, which is the exact time the peel is finished. What a refreshing way to start the day with sparkling, rejuvenated skin, and sparkling ready-to-go clear mind. And I’m multi-tasking…but I’m not. How Zen is that!
This time-saving trick is especially nifty because I’m not supposed to be moving my face around anyway or the peel will crackle…so how better to keep still than through meditation! I smell a symbiosis!
Zen’d out beauty multi-tasking baby…it’s not an oxymoron; it’s the new OOOOMG!
x♥x♥x♥,
GET DAILY INSPIRATION! Download my FREE pdf printable poster, “24 Powerful Motivational Quotes to Pump Up Positivity!” with a FREE subscription to my periodic happiness lifestyle posts!
Dame Diane Uniman, Aka Princess Diane von Brainisfried, is an attorney turned motivational speaker, certified positive psychology life coach and award-winning writer. She wrote Bonjour, Breast Cancer-I’m Still Smiling…Wit, Wisdom, and Optimism for Beating the Breast Cancer Blues.