greetings from the state of mindfulness.

A good friend and former client reached out to me today.

As we were discussing life in general, I let them know about finding out that I’m on the spectrum. In a good way, this did not come as a surprise to them. They gave me some very helpful constructive criticism – they made me aware that they’ve always seen my moments of social awkwardness, and how I sometimes miss the emotional cues of others.

This was incredibly validating, as I’ve always felt socially awkward, and when I’m in that “fight or flight” state of awkwardness, I definitely go into a tunnel vision frame of mind.

My takeaway from this is that I have an opportunity to be more mindful of others, especially in those awkward, tunnel vision moments.

I sometimes struggle to stay in the moment. More often than not, I get triggered to something from my past, and my mind gets totally focused on a previous trauma. This often happens without me saying a single word. In my head, I start to think about music as a way of calming down, but at this point, I’m truly no longer in the moment.

This is a tremendous opportunity – to be much more mindful in the moment of the people and situations taking place. Right now it feels easier said than done.

Although my friend thinks it’s a bad idea to stop playing music because it’s my outlet, I know that mindfulness far outweighs playing and singing right now.

Although I love Hawaii and Arizona, right now my two favorite states are mindfulness and gratitude.