little moments

A funny thing happened when I was walking from home to the local shops on Friday morning.  As I turned a corner I saw a woman on the opposite side of the road walking towards me.  I didn’t know her, but she was a similar age to me and carrying a bunch of tulips.  As she saw me, she called out with pleasure and started to cross the road towards me, speaking as she did so.  I was struck by a moment of doubt as I wondered if she was someone I SHOULD recognise and I checked over my shoulder to see whether she was actually greeting someone behind me.  This made her realise that she had taken me for someone else and as she reached my side she apologised.  We both laughed and agreed it was a case of mistaken identity, patted each other’s arm reassuringly and carried on our way.  What could have been an awkward moment turned into a little jewel of connection in the middle of an ordinary day.

I’m trying to pay more attention to these little moments.

breakfast

I love breakfast. I wake hungry and could never skip breakfast. I really like the fact that these days people go out for breakfast, meet for breakfast, linger over breakfast. Personally I'm not a fan of the Full English which leaves me feeling stodgy and bloated all morning. Most mornings I make myself a modest bowl of porridge with raisins and a banana, or a couple of weetabix with skimmed milk and a banana (heated in the microwave until the milk is hot and the banana takes on a squidgy sweetness). Today I decided to give my breakfast a little more attention. I had been talking with a friend about mindfulness, so today I made and ate my breakfast mindfully. I had a small bowl of lightly spiced apricots with vanilla yogurt and two slices of wholemeal toast with apricot conserve. To draw it all together and make it a minor feast for the senses and the mind I made myself a pot of spicy chai - fragrant with the scents of cinnamon and cardomom. I enjoyed the gentle pace and the flavours and the aroma and the fact that the spices in the tea echoed the spices in the apricots and yogurt and the apricots were repeated in the conserve. A little piece of culinary poetry to start the day!