There is a reason this blog is called Accidentally Mindful. That reason is me. Yes, currently my life is filled with palo santo sticks, meditation cushions, intentional conversations and all the fancy buzzwords you see on the internet when you search for mindfulness.

But that wasn’t always the case. I am so passionate about working with people who think all this stuff isn’t for them because I recognize those people. They are me.

I was busy with a capital B. I had so many ideas about what I needed to do next in order to “have a better life”, I just kept moving. The problem was, no matter how much I achieved or what exciting new role I moved into, or how many babies I had, I never felt the happiness I was constantly seeking.

The thing is, I have no a-ha story. There is no one magic moment where I had an epiphany, got out of my own way and grabbed onto the horns of The Successful Happy Life (trademark).

I am like those overnight success people who actually have toiled in their field for 20 years. We have no secrets. There is no magic pill. I don’t know about Bill Gates or Jennifer Garner, but for me, finding my version of a successful happy life, included a series of small steps and then one big effort to

pay attention to the world around me.

Revolutionary, right? Paying attention?

So profound.

(Seriously, I wish all my teachers in grade school knew that all those times they wrote “Cristie needs to chat less and pay more attention in class” they were actually giving me life-saving advice. )

It is that revolutionary concept, paying attention, that I intend to write about here. My hope is that by sharing how I became accidentally mindful, I can help someone else who is out there possibly building a dream life but still feeling like they’re too asleep to recognize it.

These days, I feel good, almost all the time. That wasn’t the case for so many years. I know there are folks out there who feel like I used to. I just want to help no one have to feel that way anymore.

Life can be beautiful, even when parts are decidedly not. You just have to know where to focus your gaze.

Mindfulness, whether accidental or on purpose, helps with that shift, every day.