Mindfulness

A dear friend let me borrow a book yesterday--Be Free Where You Are-- written by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh. I read the first few pages this morning and was struck with the simplicity of his message--"we are all capable of living mindfully." The only requirement is to pay attention to what you are doing while you are doing it.

If you have never experienced doing something mindfully you can start right now. By living mindfully your days will be filled with the fullness of life.

You will begin to appreciate the simple activity of drinking a glass of water. Don’t just drink the glass of water so you can get done with it. Experience the drinking in its totality. Be there while you are drinking.

Practice walking mindfully. Enjoy each step in your journey to pick up the morning paper from your driveway. Enjoy each step you take as you carry the dishes from the dinner table to the sink. What a blessing to be able to walk freely and effortlessly.

You can practice mindfulness when you eat. Before you start, look at your food. Smile at it. This food is what sustains your bodily health. As you pick up and eat your sting beans, consider the color, texture and taste. Realize that this sting bean has grown from a tiny seed. How many tasty string beans have grown from a single seed placed in the ground. Be grateful for the sunshine the soil and the rain that have all contributed to the maturation of this single bean.

Start with the practice of mindfulness when drinking, walking and eating. Cultivate the habit of mindfulness in these areas and see how you feel. You don’t watch a movie with the goal of getting to the end. You watch a movie with the goal of enjoying every aspect of it – the scenery, the dialogue, the special effects, the story, the actors, the intrigue – everything.

Start treating each day with that same mindfulness. Enjoy it all. It’s all good.