By Jasmine Wood

Hello Mamas!  It has been a whirlwind of a week in my part of town!

With gardening season in full swing, my daughter’s seemingly exponential pace and zest for life, my husband in Manhattan for work, dog sitting, and my GMO education outreach here in town, my head has just slowed to a stationary position (from full on spinning for the last couple days).

Silly me... I triple-booked myself again!

Since I have become a mom, I have developed the unfortunate habit of triple-booking myself. Planning to be in two places doing three jobs at once! Three jobs because if I am working my daughter is by my side.  This past week I had scheduled myself to the point of no return…

I had volunteered to dog sit my mother’s lovable pup and to staff an outreach table at Farm Fest on campus on Thursday, all while my husband was out of town for business! After Day One (of  three days total) of dog sitting, outreach at Farmfest, and hubby out of town; I felt rusty. Rusty in my bones; when I put Rita and the dog down to bed for the night I was done. I was still done when Rita awoke at 5:30 the next morning to begin our next fun filled day of adventure!

But, this is more than a rant about how hectic my last couple of days were; this is the story of achievement on the cosmic level!

This past Saturday, (Day 3 of dog sit/ no hubby fest) I managed to meditate for the first time since Rita has been born. Seriously, for almost three years now my mind has been so hyperactive that I have not successfully meditated, or truly quieted my mind in that space of time, until today!

Blissful is the quiet mind!

After harvesting some greens around the yard to throw into a recipe I found myself with the space to sit in my yard and meditate. A space just for me, but, at the same time for the whole universe. I fell into the void: out of myself and became one with everything else again! I was content. I  had achieved some kind of nirvana amidst chaos. Yes!

Finding calm within the chaos…

I am so surprised to report that the first time I have truly meditated in years coincided with one of the most hectic weeks of my adult life! If you would have told me to “keep calm and meditate” when I ranted about my busy, over loaded week, I probably would of "Gone Lioness" and ripped some heads off! But, seriously I think there is a lot to be said about finding calm in the storm. When we are able to maintain inner calm, emotions like happiness and joy just seem to flow toward us and emanate from us!

I think part of my ability to find this place of inner calm within myself was because I felt accomplished: Super Mama! I had handled all of my life’s tasks by myself, plus some extra work, including outreach, gardening and dog sitting! I also managed to succeed at most of these things! (As anyone of you who work with your young children around know, for every one task accomplished three more projects are created! Ask me about how Farmfest outreach went with toddler in tow for a good laugh)

Meditate on this: How amazing is our ability to thrive?

I truly believe in the power of positive thinking. I can think back now to the time wasted worrying about what a hard time I was going to have while my husband was out of town. In retrospect, it was all for null because my daughter, dog for the weekend, and I were a great trio! Within us all lays great strength and the ability to do more than merely to survive, but to flourish. Let us all work to live in a space where we recognize our true potential at that of those around us!

Hubby returned last night and the dog was picked up this morning, hence my ability to write cohesive thoughts to share with you.

Till next time, in the wise words of Willy Wonka:

We are the Music Makers, We are the Dreamers of the Dream…

Be Well!

Jasmine