Little Bitty Steps: Lent

I'm three days into my Facebook Detox and I'm actually feeling fine! It is amazing how productive I have become just by eliminating this one small thing from my life.

I actually spent two hours knitting AND listening to an audiobook last night, and am proud to say that I finally finished my Grandmother's Gretel that I had been ~~fighting with~~ working on for the last week. It was a good knit in that I needed to concentrate in order to do it. And considering that it was a sort of meditation hat for my Grandmother, I was able to intertwine positive thoughts and love into each stitch instead of just mindlessly reading the pattern and going through the motions.

This picture was taken during blocking #1. I blocked (read: wet and stretched it to shape) too hard (much) and it lost most of it's elasticity. I'm much happier after blocking #2 and hope to get a picture of my Grandmother wearing it when I give it to her!!

Speaking of knitting, I'm back to my knitting monogamy. I had been trying to work on multiple projects at one time to break up some of the mind-numbing monotony that rows upon rows of garter and stockinette can lead to. I've never been one who understood polygamy or who could manage a "fling" on the side, so my needles are once again free and I'm flying through projects with ease. In case you are wondering, I am getting ready to cast on (start) the Citron shawl. It is another meditative project so I will likely have something else running simultaneously... but Citron knows that we are not in an exclusive relationship and she's okay with that.

One of the biggest things I've noticed going through detox is that it is so much easier to be mindful in everything that I do. My only New Year's ~~resolution~~ promise to myself was to work towards being more mindful. Being mindful, to me, means being fully present in the moments of my life. Facebook was one of those areas of my life that took away from my ability to practice mindfulness. (For the record, we've already established that I'm a FB addict, so let's just move on and focus on what I'm actually saying here.) All too often I would have the laptop up with multiple tabs open and only pay half attention to everything that I was looking at and that was going on around me. In other words, I was half-assing everything I did.

Sure, sometimes I don't want to have to embrace the moment, particularly if it is something that brings pain or suffering... but to truly tune in to my environment and to get the most out of every experience I need to allow myself to feel all of the emotions that the moment possesses - whether I like it or not.

Conversely, I feel like I am finally REALLY appreciating where I am in my life. I sat with my girls tonight and enjoyed every feeling that moment had to offer: the differences in their hands, the varied shades of their hair, the unique way that each of them smell. I honestly don't remember the last time that I stopped long enough or allowed myself to "marinate" in that space long enough to notice, enjoy, and give thanks for those things.

Now, I know what you're thinking... The Mama has lost it and is going all philosophical on us! Actually, what is happening is that the 144 word "Status Updates" are transforming from one liners to actual thoughts. Yet another surprising side effect of "coming off of FB". Who knew?!

And as a reward for reading through tonight's ramblings, here are a few additional FO's (Finished Objects) to tide you over until tomorrow!