Okay... Just Stop and Take A Few Deep Breaths

Getting your stride as a single mother can seem like one big race against time and the never-ending list of stuff to do. In the midst of all this activity, why would you want to sit down and empty your mind using meditation - there's too much on it! Indeed, why slow down and, possibly, soften, when everything that is happening underscores the need to toughen up? For the simple reason that meditation is about learning not to react to everything and nothing strengthens more than being in charge of who and what is pushing your buttons.

The technique is very straightforward - a few breathing exercises, a quiet moment, a bit of reading - practise over a few weeks. The idea is that every time you do it, you decompress and bit-by-bit, stop reacting. You may be surprised by the enormous results. (I did it for a few months and someone actually called me aloof. After a year of registering nothing but stress, I took it as a vast compliment).

A quick Google search shows that there are meditation classes and groups offered just about everywhere in Canada. But if you can't find one near you, you may find the popular website wildmind.org. is a good place to start. Also the book Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kaba-Zinn (Hyperion Books; 2005) might help.

If, as the Buddhists say, "our life is the creation of the mind," it makes sense that if you keep your mind out of the proverbial frying pan, the rest will follow. Indeed, once you stop reacting to any given thing you might find it doesn't deserve your attention anyway. It's just one more useful tool in the life of the profoundly multi-tasking single mother.

Painting is Mountain Scene by Albert Bierstadt; Courtesy Art Renewal Center