“Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
When we bring mindfulness to a seemingly mundane act, it can acquire a “holiness.” The reason for that is because something happens to how we are living when we become mindful. When we arrive fully in the present moment, we are living more deeply and authentically. We are able to be in touch with things as they are, no longer distracted by concerns rooted in our personalities or in the outer world. As a result, what we experience is a much more profound and satisfying experience. Distractions are gone and we get a better sense of Interbeing, the interconnectedness of all things; we get in touch with and appreciate the wonder of life that is so easy to ignore.
In times when there is a lot of stress coming from the outside world, being mindful is a powerful way of regrounding ourselves. If we find ourselves, for example, becoming afraid of what is happening in our country, we quickly discover that those problems are really not in the present moment where we are; they are stories built from our anxiety and fear. The outer problems do exist, but we have no reason to keep thinking about them.
I want to talk about two ways of becoming mindful. The first is simply stopping what we are doing, becoming aware of the breath and taking a few moments to place our attention on the body instead of what we are thinking and/or worrying about. We transition from outer concerns to the awareness of a wonderful moment in which we are alive and okay. That “okay” feeling can bring much gratitude if we allow it. We can practice this over and over throughout the day, simply remembering to do it. The good news is that the more we do it, the more we remember to do it. The end result is a steadier, more grounded life.
Another way of bringing mindfulness into our lives is by slowing down and applying full awareness to what we are doing. Just as we bring ourselves back to the present moment when we stop and become aware of the breath, we can get there by completely opening ourselves to our present experience.
For example, we can hurriedly brew our coffee or tea in the morning and gulp it down as we read our news or social media, or we can become aware of everything about what we are doing. We notice the colors and textures of the coffee or tea pot, listen to the sounds associated with brewing our morning cup, we feel the pleasant warmth of the cup that is holding the liquid. We can slowly smell and taste it, bringing gratitude to our being able to have the coffee or the tea, remembering that many do not have that opportunity. We take the process from the mundane to the spiritual: drinking coffee or tea becomes an exercise in mindfulness and we can see the wonder of life there.
The same can be accomplished with eating, driving, listening to music, whatever we’re doing. When we become mindful in this way, we protect ourselves from becoming overwhelmed with the problems manifesting outside of us. There is no politics in my cup of tea, for example, and I need to keep it that way. The more we bring mindfulness to “mundane” activities, the more they will deepen for us and become a pleasant part of our spiritual practice.
Bringing mindfulness front and center into your life takes a lot of time and practice. It’s tricky, too. If you’d like to talk about how it is for you, hit the “Book an Appointment” tab!
