The wasp route to mindfulness

[Eky]

This happened to me three years ago, long before I'd heard of Mindfulness, so I've only just put a name to it. I'd left it late in year to harvest our blackcurrants, it was a heavy crop and the jam pots were waiting. So, dressed in shorts, t-shirt and sandals, I hit the garden on a hot late summer day. However, I had competition - the bushes were crawling with wasps getting their fill of my crop. I'm not phobic about wasps, but I've been stung often enough to respect them. I got a stool and, moving slowly, I got myself into a mental zone that allowed me to work with the wasps - I spent over two hours picking fruit with total focus, I had wasps crawling around on my arms and legs - but we were in harmony so no stings. Well, there was one sting, on getting up at the end of the session I squashed a wasp at the back of my knee, so it stung me - but by that time I was so in sympathy with the wasps that I actually apologised and was sorry that it had been hurt. not sure if it's advisable practice, or even mindfulness - but I was certainly mindful and focused that day.

[Gareth]

Sounds great.

It's these everyday situations where mindfulness really excels. What we once thought of as boring, mundane or even scary can be completely transformed by mindfulness into something truly beautiful.

Thanks for your story.

[JonW]

Lovely story, Eky, and a wonderful encapsulation of mindfulness in action.
My father once had a wasp trapped in his trousers. The sight of him jumping around the room, trying to dislodge the wasp from his trousers, is one of my earliest and fondest memories. My dad wasn't encapsulating mindfulness, however. He was simply anxious that the wasp didn't get to sting his meat and two veg.
Cheers,
Jon, Hove