A Waste of Time?

Yesterday I spent around 5 hours on the line to Telkom's helpdesk trying to sort out my broken internet connection. That doesn't include a trip to the store to switch routers and I still have to call back on Monday to speak to the accounts department (who don't work on weekends), but at least we now know where the fault lies.

A year ago I would have felt very differently about those 5 hours. I would have viewed them as time wasted and time that I will never get back. Nowadays I view spending time doing mundane tasks as spiritual practice.

If I looked at the usefulness of my time as having to accomplish something, sure it can be seen as a waste, but if I look at the quality of my time rather as how am I BEing in those moments that are difficult, despite what I am DOing, then it's a whole different story! (I think that's what they mean when they say we are human beings not human doings!) Am I being present, am I feeling, what am I feeling, how do I feel physically?
How do I react when I get angry: Do I supress it? Do I judge myself as bad for being angry?

I won't say I spent all 5 of those hours being totally zen. I was pretty cool til about 3 hours in when I got cut off and had to call back. I swore very loudly and gave a grumpy woman a hard time when she made me repeat all the steps I'd already gone through. When she rather ungraciously offered me the option to hang up and call back on Monday I declined and MADE her go thorough all the steps again with me! She wasn't so gracious either when I apologised for giving her a hard time, but she's welcome to be like that if she so chooses. Perhaps she sent me to the store to get my modem tested as punishment (knowing full well they'd tell me initially that they couldn't do it), but thanks to my persistance and her need to prove me wrong, I now have the brand spanking new upgraded modem, so she can keep her attitude and I'll keep the new modem LOL. 

I did spend more than a few hours on that call seeing what I could be grateful for: i.e. I'm extremely grateful for a cordless speakerphone. No crick in my neck. My time wasn't totally 'unproductive': I managed to fold a load of laundry, do another, make some lunch and worked out the recipe for my first attempt at homemade antiperspirant which has turned out to be simply fantastic.

Apart from that one lady, every other person I spoke to during those calls I had quite pleasant interchanges with. I have been searching for deeper meaning and purpose in my life and one of the most basic things I've discovered in my raison-d-etre is that I wish to spread love, happiness and joy to those with whom I come in contact. (Well those that I feel deserve it anyway - idiot drivers are definitely excluded, I wish they'd all poof into their own alternate universe and go p!$$ each other off. There are rather a lot of ignoranuses out there on the roads!). I got to laugh and share some kind words and positivity with most of the people I interacted with - and there were quite a few people I interacted with on that call. 

I'm not sure when the switch in attitude happened, but it took those 5 hours for me to notice it ;)