Warehouse Revery

This blog sprang out of sharing I've been doing at the bottom of my monthly sales flyer for my business Yoga Life Style Yoga Supply.  In this months edition I told about how, as the holidays approach, I start doing the post office run in the afternoon so my warehouse manager Ed can keep packing orders.  I actually like this.  It makes me a part of the process of fulfilling the orders.  I get to be one of Santas elves.  I know our Postmistress and I generally announce myself with a hearty "Ho, ho, ho!" when I arrive.  I have fun with it.

     This year the volume of orders has been overwhelming and Ed could not be expected to keep up with the flow, even with me going to the PO, so last week, I put in a couple of 3 to 4 hours shifts picking and packing orders after we closed.  This week I'm doing that on 4 nights and as much time as I can during the day as well.  This is a lot more than I usually do to help in the warehouse and I'm enjoying it for the most part.
     My favorite moment came during the day today when I picked up our hefty yellow box cutter and it was cold.  Somehow the coolness brought me out of thinking and into sensation.  I noticed the weight of the tool and marveled at how easily and smoothly it sliced through the tape I was cutting, careful not to cut too deep so as not to damage what was in the box.  From there my focus on what I was doing was acute.  I was 100% picking and packing with no distracting thoughts, I was in a world of texture, temperature, color and task at hand.  The past and future dropped away and I was simply experiencing what I was doing and doing it completely.  I made some lovely packages in a relaxed way.
     I realized what was happening and had to consciously decide not to think about it but to stay with first order sensation and after awhile I dropped back out and into thinking, "Wow, that was cool, I ought to blog about it," or "Damn, my arm hurts, I hope I'm going to be able to get through this." or some other mundane mental chatter.  I think today I may try the Buddhist practice of labeling but with only two labels, "awareness" and "thinking" and try to keep recalling my mind to awareness and drop the thinking as much as possible.  Big smile on my face, warmth in my cheeks and lips.  Opening mouth, rising chest on the inhalation, shoulders separating, "Ho, ho, ho!"  Vibration filling my mouth and flowing out....