Day 36: March 6
The thought for today is MINDFULNESS.
Did you ever travel across town and not remember the trip because your mind was elsewhere? Perhaps you were thinking about a past conversation or worried about something you think might happen in the near future. What you weren’t doing was being mindful of driving your car.
Mindfulness is another way of saying awareness. It is a focused attention on what is in the present moment. What are you doing right now? What thoughts are you thinking about what you’re doing? What feelings arise in regard to your activity? What are your senses telling you?
By practicing mindfulness, we let go of attachments to the past and future and maintain a connection to ‘what is’ rather than ‘what I believe was’ or ‘what I believe could be.’ When not practicing mindfulness, we are likely to project our suppositions, misperceptions, and assumptions on to whatever is occupying our thoughts.
Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk famous for his peace work during the Vietnam War and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave the following example of mindfulness:
“While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while one is washing the dishes one should be completely aware that one is washing the dishes. There are two ways of washing the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes. If, while washing the dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not washing the dishes to wash the dishes. If we can’t wash the dishes, chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea, either.”
In other words, we will never enjoy our experience of life in the here and now if we’re always thinking about other things. If I’m thinking about my tea while I’m washing the dishes, what occupies my mind while I’m drinking my tea? Am I simply enjoying the experience of the tea or thinking about what I’m doing next?
The practice of mindfulness includes how we relate to people. Many relationships have been ruined because one or both parties were so enmeshed in prior circumstances of hurt and regret or worried about conditions that may never happen that they didn’t take time to enjoy one another’s company in the present. When we develop a continual awareness of what we are saying, thinking, and doing, we are less likely to say, think or do something harmful.
I begin to practice mindfulness today. I stop looking at the activity of my life as a nuisance and ‘something to get out of the way.’ All of life is precious – every moment, every breath, every heartbeat. I take the time to notice where I am and what I’m doing. I take notice of my thoughts and feelings in every circumstance. I listen to what my body is telling me. I let go of attachments to past and future and enjoy what is here with me right now in this beautiful moment.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
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