Time wasting and self actualisation?

I am sitting waiting for a potential tenant to look through our house, one cottage has already found some young women for when we move out but the other is yet to have an application so this means lots of sitting and waiting whilst everyone else in the (other) house has a siesta.

I have been finding I am doing a lot of time wasting in these moments, reading rubbish online and refreshing the email etc so I thought at least I can pop a blog in whilst I wait.

I have been watching lots of Escape to the Country and being very charmed by Alistair Appleton (even his name is adorable) inevitably, as he is handsome, stylish, charming, spiritually enlightened he is of course gay which is a terrible waste from my perspective (probably not from others' of course). I was interested to find that he is a long time practitioner of mindfulness meditation and have been reading his blog eagerly.

Definitely food for thought and it gets me thinking about the value of meditation in our lives and making it part of mine once again as I find my deep-seated distrust in myself and my stress levels can fluctuate badly and affect my relationships with my dear little family, not to mention myself. I doubt anyone can reach their potential whilst not being present in the here and now and live and being comfortable with who they truly are.

Meditation brings peace to the monkey chatter in the mind and is the best option I can think of for a path to self actualisation. Living in the here and now is something so often neglected by us all and  I have been having discussions with my darling husband about the implications of doing so verses muddling on regardless. Makes for an interesting conversation. I might have to pull out the Dhammapada and revisit the Buddhist principles.

Deep stuff coming from the fact I had to Wikipedia Alistair Appleton on account of his adorable dimples and fears that my dream of having him as a backup husband were to be dashed.