Reaction vs. Mindfulness

I'm a fan of planning. Mainly because I find that sometimes you can a bit more peace of mind when you account for chaos.

Maybe that sounds counterintuitive because you might assume that planning prevents chaos, which it can, to some extent. But perfect control is an illusion, and instead, I desire to have a little bit more leeway in my life, like for example, when you are trying to get to a doctor's appointment on time. 

When you plan to make your appointment, you pick a date and time far enough in advance that you can go when it's not rush hour, or you add in a couple of errands in the neighborhood for that day like getting your car detailed across the street while you're getting your check up.

Let's say you weren't able to do that, and your appointment is at 5pm, when the highway is so clogged, it would be faster to run to your appointment (if running on the highway was safe). Maybe you plan your day so you're already across town before rush hour begins, and you're working from home at a cafe that day or you add in an extra hour to your travel time so you can safely get to your appointment on time.

Maybe you think about and plan out the podcast you'll listen to in traffic so it's a little less dreadful to sit in. Maybe you are able to add a little more joy into your life through mindfulness and planning, rather than reacting to the awful driver who cuts you off because they are late for their doctor's appointment because they didn't plan for traffic to be so bad at 4:45pm.

I planned my wedding to cause as little stress as possible. It was a small gathering of about 12 people, in my in-laws backyard, and lasted about 45 minutes. We did our invitations via email, had a wedding coordinator who also did our flowers, and cost less than $10k for everything (including my dress, the suit tailoring, wedding coordinator, and our reception which was at a restaurant after the wedding).

It was the best wedding I've ever been to.