Consignment: Mindful Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping to do
And, oh!
What a mood I was in,
Hence I needed to strategize.

The solution was simple,
To really feel this irritation,
And let it emerge,
To truly know it,

Then, well prepared,
Out the door
And down to the street
Experiencing the energy,

Directing it into my task,
But never losing track,
Noticing the effect,
Which was not too good,

For I could sense
The ravages of the stress
Building up inside,
And seething;

But gradually,
As the fresh air
Filled my lungs
And the sun shone gently down

I settled into my route,
And was able to
Act reasonably
For most of the trip,

Only slipping up
On the return journey,
When I temporarily forgot,
And then behaved quite grumpily
When I felt blocked by the folks ahead.

Consideration: Impermanence

The sun is setting,
After a long day of
Sorting through
And discarding.

Musings on the past,
Shuttled by,
As each item
Was filed or cast off,

Of those disposed
Some were given away,
Others to recycling,
And some to trash.

Still barely a dent
In the collection,
And so much reflection
Before the action.

It’s difficult to imagine
It ever all being done,
All this accumulation,
Related to the expectation

That someday these pieces
Would be needed,
And no thoughts arose
On departure or decay,

Of all that was gathered,
Now slipping through the fingers
As water drains away
When hands are washed,

Yet, in the latter case,
There is no sense of loss,
No nostalgia or regret,
No concern or worry,
About the water’s going away.

Considerable: Ill Reversal

Judging, judging, judging,
Where did that come from?
When did it begin?
Drat! I missed again!

I never seem to see
This one coming,
Until it’s too late,
And I’m ripping in every direction.

All the work I did
To bring compassion
To what’s here
Seems to be undone,

As if I tore up the bed sheets
With my teeth,
And followed by shredding
The mattress cover as well!

My jaw locks tightly,
And my expression is grim,
Because nothing is right,
Not a thing is, as I like it!

All is dark and negative,
But it takes so long
For me to notice
That this attitude has set in;

That already I’ve rended the cloth
Until only fluff remains,
And am still searching
For more material to destroy;

What a foolish way
To squander my time,
But I do it anyway,
As if stuck on destruction,
Eventually senselessly snapping at everything.