Last summer, I tried meditating – the premier activity, it seems, for staying in the present rather than worrying about the future or ruminating about the past.  But no sooner was I sitting still than  I fell asleep or remembered that I was almost out of regular coffee and dashed off to buy some right away.

Apparently, I fell victim to “monkey mind,” the Buddhist term for a “restless” or “unsettled” state.  And the monkey had not only crawled into the car that was my mind. He had reached over and grabbed the wheel. 

I am happy to announce that have found a way around monkey mind and into mindfulness.  It is “closet mind,” or the complete focus on cleaning out one’s closet.  When I am clearing the unwanted and unloved into garbage bags, I do not fall asleep or think about the coffee supply.   The past is cleared out and so – for that particular garment – is the future.

Jon Kabat-Zinn would be proud.  And possibly Goodwill.