Yesterday I bought an Apple Watch, and I am already in love with 3 of its features that I didn’t know I’d get, along with my watch.

First and very nice: All of my spam calls [and the less numerous valid calls] show up on my Apple Watch. Within seconds, I can dismiss or accept those suckers–right there on my wrist. No more wrestling with the contents of my well-endowed bag–looking for my iPhone–I just tap my watch and bingo! I zap those spam calls within seconds.

Second and also very nice: My Apple Watch orders me to move every hour. You see, at the present time, I do all of my writing propped up in my bed. I am about to change that bad habit. I am creating an office space in my sunroom, but for the past few months, I have propped myself up for hours, just writing and researching to do more writing. Especially in terms of wellness, this is not a great system. But within minutes of setting up my watch, I began hearing a gentle ding that was followed by a message: “Get up and move for 1 minute.” I chuckled, but I complied. I get this nudge to move about every hour, and I think that I appreciate this reminder. My watch even congratulates me for having moved. How considerate!

This morning my Apple Watch talked to me again. This time it told me to take a minute for mindfulness. It continued, “Reflect on how you would like to spend your day.” My watch is Johnny-on-the-Spot. I had only been awake for about 15 minutes. I had already walked out into my garden for my first stroll, and I had made a cup of coffee, and after my watch told me to do so, I took a minute for mindfulness. I turned off the news, and I closed my eyes, and I breathed in. and I  breathed out, and I let it be.

Hmmmmm! How do I want to spend my day?

Within a few seconds of having begun my session of mindfulness, I recalled my #28Days Journal Challenge. I peeked at my watch to be sure that I had been mindful for a minute, and then, I began my daily freewriting in my journal.

To honor my new Apple Watch and its prompting, I intended to write about mindfulness. I posted that word at the top of my page, but my first words were about my new Apple Watch and its amazing tips for my well-being. After that, I began talking about the history of my day, which had begun in my garden, and immediately, I was whisked away into my garden, checking out my new rosebuds, pondering on the fact that my Lady Banks rose was not as full as I had hoped it would be this year, but honoring the fact that it had at least reached the top of my arbor. My iceberg rose vines are covered with buds, and that pink shrub–what IS its name?–its buds are showing buttons of a beautiful and light, clear pastelness. I’m thrilled that it made it back to my garden again this year. Again, where is its tag? What IS its name?

Back  inside and a few words about Mindfulness:

Ooops. My watch just told me to Stand Up!  I’ll stroll out into my garden again. But hey–My watch may be good for making me stand up, but It will be hard to finish my first novel this way, and it makes being mindful a near-impossibility. My watch talks out of both sides of its mouth.

Breathe in and breathe out. Be mindful–in spite of your new Apple Watch.