The Mindful Day by Laurie Cameron
Self-Help (2018 - 245 pp.)
Laurie Cameron's The Mindful Day walks the reader through 24 hours of uncensored, uncut mindfulness: locking into your lived experience from waking up to falling asleep, through whichever of work, school or anything else you do.
Five bullet points on the back of the book explain its contents in a nutshell:
- Wake up to joy
- Create a morning routine
- Focus your wandering mind
- See your loved ones with fresh eyes
- Transition peacefully from day to evening
Among the book's emphases are oneness with nature, appreciation for the presence of family members, forgiveness toward those who trespass against us,* and refusing to obsess over things we can't control.
Rather than write a traditional entry for The Mindful Day, I'll focus on the field guide aspect of the book. I've discussed many field guides on this blog, from O.P.E.N. Routine to The Hobo Handbook, and I assure you there will be more to come. When I discuss them, I pay special attention to any exercises or practical advice they give.
The Mindful Day's table of contents is broken into chapters with subheadings. Each subheading is written in the imperative, directing the reader to perform (or refuse to perform) a certain task in order to achieve maximum mindfulness. Some of these I already do, some I don't, some I should, and some I'm glad I don't. There are 50 directions, giving those of us who love calculating percentages an easy time - doubling the raw score gives a percentage score in, for lack of a better term, mindfulness compliance.
I repeat each direction in bold below and then write 1-2 sentences explaining my response. I encourage you to do this exercise only once you've finished the book. The directions aren't numbered; I'm adding numbers for ease of reference.
HOME: Start the Day
1. Wake up to joy - YES
Every morning, I wake up to a melodious alarm. Anyone who's heard it says it's the nicest sounding alarm they've ever heard. Fifteen minutes later, the BRRRRRRRRRRING starts.
2. Sit still and breathe for five minutes - YES
This is usually a product of overtiredness, sadly. I need a few minutes to wake up before I make my morning coffee (or get it out of the fridge if I'm drinking iced coffee from the night before). It is rather still, though.
3. Strengthen a positive outlook - YES
My outlook is so positive I was once nicknamed Pollyanna.
4. Set intentions - YES
I have a few key tasks I make sure I do every day. These tasks have no one watching over me but myself. If you can't keep a promise to yourself, how can you keep a promise to anyone else?
5. Reflect in writing - YES
I keep extensive notes of everything from my grocery lists to my new consumer purchases. The notes of regular people in the current day inform the cultural historians of the future.
6. Meditate through exercise - YES
At varying times throughout the day, I work out at Orangetheory Fitness for an hour. (Pre-COVID, at least.) When I'm getting through my reps, or blowing away the competition on the treadmill, I enter a hyperactive yet calm Zen zone.
Otherwise, or in addition to that workout, I walk, sometimes over 30,000 steps in a day. I've also run in the RBC Race for the Kids every year since 2016.
7. Shower with awareness - YES
On a bad day, a shower can be the best part of the day. Whether it's phone, email, social media, or any other medium, it's nearly impossible to interrupt someone who's taking a long, hot shower. The exception, ironically, is that whenever I go to the gym, showering afterward becomes far more urgent. There's a meditative trade-off.
(Sorry, no picture for this one.)
A question for Laurie Cameron: what about people who prefer baths?
8. Listen to nature's symphony - YES
When I'm at my parents' house or at the cottage, I take in the wind rustling the trees and the bird calls that come every morning. Admittedly, when I'm at my apartment, this symphony is replaced by the gulping sound of pigeons.
9. Connect at breakfast - NO
This is the first mindful tip I don't practice, dropping me to 8-1 overall. I routinely ate breakfast at work, back when physical workplaces were the norm. If I'm at home, I usually reheat leftovers. Breakfast isn't a social time for me.
10. Set a morning routine - NO
I'm not a routine-oriented person. If I ate the same breakfast every day, I'd be bored out of my mind. One of my mane mottos is "show me something I haven't seen before". Yes, that includes which spices I put on my leftover fried rice.
11. Wave goodbye - YES
Whenever someone else is in the same dwelling as me, I make sure to wave goodbye - especially to pets. As we learned from the admittedly underwhelming Secret Life of Pets, they need it the most.
Record so far: 9-2
WORK: Seize the day
12. Transform your commute - YES
My commute is sometimes my favourite part of the day. (Again, pre-COVID.) Sitting on the subway on a cold Toronto winter day, my charcoal wool trench coat on over my suit, with a coffee beside me and a book in my hands, I feel like the sophisticated travellers on European trains from a century ago.
13. Greet colleagues with presence - YES
I've been called "smiley" (as an adjective, not as a nickname) for doing this.
14. Focus your wandering mind - YES
I'm a big believer in the "eat the frog" philosophy. At home, that usually means emptying the dishwasher. At work, that could mean responding to an unpleasant email or replacing printer paper.
15. Remember your purpose - NO
This is a weird point to answer in the negative, but I can't think of myself as having one singularly defined purpose, even on a given day. This morning alone, I've made coffee, done online banking, had a conversation, listened to music and started this blog entry.
16. Listen mindfully - YES
I'm a believer in active listening.
17. Lead mindful meetings - YES
As part of multiple executive committees, we have agendas that bring us back to the important topics of the day. We can have free-form discussions but they always circle back to the main points.
18. Email and text mindfully - NO
I generally pause before hitting Send. However, I text spontaneously, usually with friends. Using the legal maxim that the word "and" requires all the items in the list to be considered, one for two doesn't cut it here.
19. Keep an open mind - YES
I put vindaloo powder on my pasta.
20. Banish multitasking - NO
I dislike the book's opposition to multitasking - I'm listening to music as I write this - my rule is one task per sense at any given time. An example I've given on Quora is eating dinner while watching a movie. Your senses of sight and hearing are occupied by the movie, while your senses of smell, taste and touch are occupied by your meal. Neither the movie experience nor the dinner experience is compromised.
21. Face difficult emotions - NO
If I feel a difficult emotion, it's usually related to a problem that requires fixing. Rather than ponder my emotions, I fix the problem, if possible. If I can't fix the problem, I accept that and move on to something I can fix.
22. Create space when overwhelmed - NO
This echoes #21 above: if I'm overwhelmed, it's because there are multiple priorities I'm juggling. In these situations, I frequently complete tasks in inverse order of time required, so I can focus on more in-depth tasks without having quick tasks continue to hang over my head. If I have to draft a document and take out the trash, I'll usually take out the trash first so I can focus on the document. I suppose taking out trash is creating space in a literal sense, albeit not in the figurative way Cameron envisions.
23. Prepare for a tough conversation - YES
Depending on the conversation, preparation can be as quick as a confirmation email or as detailed as a page of notes.
24. Reframe challenging situations - YES
In my line of work, I frequently deal with people who have had bad things happen, sometimes calamitously so. Helping people let go of the past and meet their future opportunities is essential for me.
25. Calm your inner critic - NO
This is something I think most people could do better, myself included. Should I have hopped on that flight to Oslo when I was delayed in the airport in Newark back in 2011?** It would have been woefully irresponsible, but I still haven't been to Scandinavia, so...
26. End the workday with ease - YES
Walking from a workplace to the subway, past all the happy hours (or dinners if I stayed late), has a certain liberating feeling to it. During COVID, that walk is replaced by a walk around the neighbourhood or a delicious home-cooked meal.
Work record: 9-6
Record so far: 18-8
PLAY: Enjoy the day
27. Take pictures - YES
My phone is loaded with pictures, ranging from interesting street signs to macro flowers. Here's one from two days ago:
Doesn't that scene make you feel mindful? This is in downtown Toronto, no less.
28. Use music - YES
I've rated over 3,000 albums on Rate Your Music. I have a Spotify Premium account, an iHome speaker, and a Smart TV I can use as a gigantic speaker. As I mentioned in #20 above, I'm listening to music while I write this entry.
My general guide to genres of music listened to during different tasks:
Anything lyric-focused (e.g.: hip hop, vocal jazz): cleaning
Lyrical, but the music is the focus (e.g.: most rock music): cooking, blogging
Mostly instrumental (e.g.: death metal, black metal): writing non-fiction
Totally instrumental (e.g.: ambient, electronic, drone): writing fiction
29. Go for a walk - YES
As I mentioned in #6 above, walking is my lighter form of exercise. I've walked to various points in Toronto, Edmonton and Houston that have taken me surprisingly far from home, sometimes as long as an hour in each direction. Walking really far and then taking transit back is also an option.
30. Create something - YES
As over eight years of this blog should show, I can't stop creating things. I even make charts of moral and practical aspects of life sometimes.
31. Engage with your children - YES
I'm cheating here, but whenever I've had a cat or a dog, I engage with him extensively. Playtime is all the time with our furry friends! I have no human children, although I tend to get along with them.
32. Get outside - YES
I was writing this entry outside until the sun's glare forced me into the living room. Some of my favourite memories involving climbing hills or discovering paths. One notable example is my ascent of the Grouse Grind back in October 2018. I finished in an unimpressive 1:18 (i.e. 78 minutes) because, as a first-time participant, I simply had to stop to take pictures so often. See #27 above.
33. Visit a museum - YES
I have a membership to the Royal Ontario Museum. I've seen dozens of regular and special exhibits there, to the point that I can recommend individual artifacts to first-timers and tourists.
34. Travel with curiosity and wonder - YES
Although my travel has been hampered in 2020 due to COVID, I have a long history of travel. I'v been to eight European countries and approximately half of the continental US states, as well as the Bahamas. Wherever I go, I seek out old parts of cities, museums, art galleries, roads people don't usually take, and, of course, food.
Play record: 8-0 (I must be really playful!)
Record so far: 26-8
LOVE: Enrich the day
35. Welcome one another - YES
Anyone I see when I get home gets a warm welcome. I smile too - no matter how bad my day's been, the bad part's over and the good part's just beginning.
36. Love yourself - YES
I think my interests are really interesting. (Don't we all?) From my favourite sports teams to my homemade hot sauce, I surround myself with the things I find interesting. I swear, my friends do too... some of them... sometimes.
Here's a 10-ounce bottle from my latest batch of my signature bird's eye chili sauce:
37. See your loved ones with fresh eyes - NO
38. Forgive from the heart - NO
These can be addressed together. I have a long and detailed memory. Everything gets added to it.
39. Choose generosity - YES
I rarely hesitate to buy a gift for a friend or to donate (time or money, or both) to a worthy cause. This often means either youth mental health (see the RBC race from #6 above) or Toronto Cat Rescue.
40. Touch with presence - YES
Every contact, from a kiss down to a socially distanced COVID-influenced greeting,*** receives the mindfulness it deserves from me.
41. Gather your posse - NO
Despite being a dedicated ENTJ with a lot of friends, I'm solitary a lot of the time. Some of my favourite activities, like reading or cooking, simply lend themselves best to having one person take the helm. (I'll never complain if someone offers to help chop veggies though!)
42. Be open to grief - YES
In flagrant contradiction to #21 above, grief is one of those few times there's an unavoidably bad emotion that just needs to be let out.
Love record: 5-3
Record so far: 31-11
HOME: End the Day
43. Transition peacefully from day to evening - YES
Rinse and repeat #12 above when the subway isn't full. I can get my reading in while being underground and thus out of cellphone or internet range. If the subway is full, a quick walk is a peaceful transition.
44. Clear your home for calm and joy - NO
Although I am a fierce declutterer, it's a war without end. If my home were that clear, I wouldn't have to declutter so many times.
45. Cultivate hygge at home - YES
Hygge, the Dano-Norwegian concept of everything being just right in a cozy way, is a warm blanket on my soft but firm couch. I've loved blankets since before I could say the phrase "I love blankets".
46. Cook with your senses - YES
Sight: the rainbow of colours I arrange for the evening's stir-fry.
Hearing: the sizzle of veggies as they hit the pan.
Smell: the permeation of sliced garlic cloves into the cozy air of my kitchen.
Taste: the punch of bird's eye chili peppers (see #36 above) meets the salt of soy sauce.
Touch: the texture of tender chicken breast complemented by the satisfying crunch of a carrot slice.
47. Savor eating - YES
Although I frequently eat in front of sports or movies (see #20 above), it never detracts from the experience. I don't "eat like the French" as Cameron recommends; I eat like a proud Canadian who enjoyed visiting Paris but prefers to integrate good food into my faster-paced life.
48. Sip evening tea - YES
As with exercise (see #6 above), my tea consumption occurs at various points throughout the day. I make a pot of (usually) noncaffeinated tea (my go-to in 2020 is lime ginger mint), let it steep for a while, and then fill my glass carafe with it. Into the fridge for a few hours and then I have delicious iced tea. I never add sugar.
49. Create a bedtime routine - NO
As with #10 above, such a rigid routine would turn me into the human equivalent of a German shepherd left home all day who tears up the couch.
50. Ease into sleep - NO
Sometimes I fall asleep easily. At other times, I can toss and turn for hours. Sometimes it's technology-related (which would likely make Cameron scold me, as she wants us all to unplug from our devices), sometimes because I feel too hot,**** sometimes because I'm lost in my thoughts.
Home (2) score: 5-3
Home (combined) score: 14-7
Final score: 36-14 (.720)
Weighing each criterion the same, I am apparently 72% mindful.
I'd put down my Pixel 3 more often, but I use it as a combined clock, newspaper and Fitbit. Knowing the time, or being able to know the time, is central to my day.
Speaking of which, the centre of the day is almost upon us. Now for a mindful lunch.
Ease of Reading: 10
Educational Content: 3
*Cameron draws more from Buddhist thought than from Christian thought in The Mindful Day, making this an example of a true cross-religious shared concept.
**My ticket was to Ithaca, New York, which is beautiful in its own right, and where I was living at the time. I can't say I really lost out here.
***I saluted a friend last month. I think all of us who live on bodies of water should all do this instead of namaste. It's so much more naval.
****The only times I've ever had difficulty sleeping due to the cold were during a camping trip in Upstate New York in 2012 and during the ice storm that hit Toronto in 2013. See #45 above: when a blanket is available, I get under it.
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