Once I’ve learned to be mindful, I won’t be
like the others standing in line at the post office annoyed by the delay caused by a malfunctioning printer.

Instead I’ll be grateful for this lucky opportunity to practice calmly accepting little glitches in my plans.

I won’t be scowling back at the people behind me as the guy holding a package ahead of me is doing.

No, I’ll spend my mindful moment viewing the poster of a forever stamp with Paul Revere galloping through the night to warn sleeping patriots that the British are coming.

Once I’ve tamed my monkey mind,
it won’t leap angrily from heroic Revere
to our president, who will soon be sticking his face on the next forever stamp.

When I’ve learned to be here now,
maybe I won’t be bothered
by the contrast between him and the founder of the U.S.Postal Service, Ben Franklin, who was more interested in contributing to the common good than he was in making a lot of money, so he didn’t patent his inventions of the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove.

Once I’ve earned my black belt in mindfulness, before such annoying thoughts can arise to muddy the clear waters of my mind, I’ll turn to the person behind me
and discuss the weather.