Mindfulness and the Minimal Effort of Avoidance

A few months back, a short bypass road opened up in my little town.  (Actually I live outside of town but that's beside the point.)  That bypass takes a mile off my journey to the PO, so I use it more often than not.  And I use it because I save a mile.  Now that might not seem like much but this is the math that goes on in my head:

1 mile X 5 days (average number of PO trips per week) =
5 miles X 4 weeks in a month =
20 miles = 1 gallon of gas

Thus, over the course of a year, that means that I earn the equivalent of a full tank of gas (mine only holds 12 gallons) with the minimal effort of avoidance (i.e. I don't drive through town the way I used to).

It's good to review to see where you can save on small stuff that adds up.  It's a simple matter of choosing to be conscious and conscientious about your actions--like not leaving the lights on in a room where no eye needs to see (besides the cost of the electricity, there's also bulb life to be considered--wear it out faster, and you have to replace it sooner).

Waste worries me.  I try not to fuss about what other folks do but I can't help seeing it. 

Once I watched a woman toss a pretty red calculator in the garbage because it wasn't working.  I asked her if she minded if I reclaimed it.  She was surprised but said she didn't care.  There were batteries at home that I was pretty sure would fit.  They did.  Ten years on, I'm still using the calculator she threw in the trash for the want of a ten cent battery. 

Last week I watched someone throw two pretty red (red again, that color captures attention) apples in the trash because each had a thumbprint-sized bruise.  I was aghast but held my tongue.  She saw me looking.  Although I hope she was embarrassed by her action, I figure that she probably was not.  What could you do with bruised apples?  Cut the bruise away and make applesauce (less than five minutes, max, including microwave cooking time).  Make a couple of apple turnovers.  Make apple muffins.  Or, if the bruises were bad indeed, rough chop the apple and put it in the undergrowth for wild creatures to feast upon or to compost gently.  I would do nearly anything other than toss it in the trash but in this case, I decided it was best to mind my own business.

There's much I want to do that I cannot because I am just one person.  There's much I wish that I could say but I hold my tongue--that's avoidance, too, for maintaining the energy for living.  All any person can do is to try to the best of her own power and to be aware of what is going on around her.  One person cannot save the world but each of us can improve upon our corner of it.

I'm gonna keep trying.
Life is good.

.....by the way, the view of the sky from the access road was so spectacularly beautiful (kinda reminded me of the skies in that famous El Greco painting of Toledo) when I went to the PO this morning, that I pulled into a turning lane to snap a picture.

Look at the wonder all around you and rejoice.