Mindfulness as mind fullness

The term Mindfulness is a newer term.
We used to say consciousness, then awareness.
 

It's all the same thing really.
It's about being mind-full. Not with thoughts and ideas and intellect.
But a mind full of awareness, presence, Be-ing.

It is about being present in the moment.
About not being caught up in the endless to do list.
About enjoying what we have, and getting off the hamster wheel of do, do, do.

If you are one of so many of us who answer the question "How are you?" with "Good, but busy!" then you might benefit from taking a few moments each day to be still and quiet.

Hard Lessons in Mindfulness

I had several hard lessons in mindfulness myself.
In recent years I have badly sprained an ankle, broken my arm, and slammed a car door on my hand.

In each of these injuries, the common factor was that I was thinking several steps ahead of me instead of where I was in that moment. That was a lack of mindfulness. Just living with my mind 1 or 2 seconds in the future caused these injuries.

Mindfulness Boot Camp

The sprained ankle proved to be the most intense mindfulness training. The doctor said to walk on it “as tolerated”, so I did. I had a pedometer at the time, and in my normal work routine, I took an average of 5,000 steps per day. So my ankle hurt. A lot.

But it was about 50 steps to the printer and back, at least 200 steps round trip to the restroom , and about 1,000 steps to the lunch room and back. not to mention other places in the large office I needed to go for day to day tasks.

At home I could stay off of it a bit more. I learned to go down the stairs backward to reduce the amount of pressure on and flexion required of my ankle. And I had to pay attention every single moment.

If I made one mis-step, which happened about once ever week, I would re-injure the ankle. It was humanly impossible to stay mindful every single moment.

Now I know about knee scooters. I had never seen one at the time, and it would have saved months of healing time.

I still practice mindfulness as often as I remember to remember. And now I ALWAYS remember to be aware on the stairs. And I am aware most of the time when I am walking. It’s an ongoing practice.

Free Online Mindfulness Summit - a Much Gentler Bootcamp

There a free mindfulness summit happening in October 2015. It’s 31 days, with a speaker each day… leaders in the field of neuro-science, neuro-psychology, and mindfulness meditation.

Check out the speaker lineup, and register here.

And let me know how it goes for you!

How About You?

What is your favorite mindfulness practice?

Other Articles On Mindfulness

The Art of Absence
Dancing with Chaos
The Emptiness of Mind-fulness
Exchange Deadlines for Live Moments
In the Stillness
Living in my Right Mind
Living in the Hum, Not the Humdrum
Paying Attention Costs Nothing

Living In Love

One day when I was going through a period of feeling unloved, unappreciated, and alone, I clicked on the radio and heard a love song. I realized that all these songs were written to express love for someone. So why not listen as though they were sung to me?

Background Funk

That feeling of being alone and unloved was a background feeling. A way of seeing the world. We’ve all had things in our lives that caused us to feel that way. And yet all of us want to connect. Whether we feel that as a surface awareness or the need has been pushed deep down to avoid the pain of not having it. No one wants to feel isolated. Even though for anyone who has survived trauma, it can feel safer to be left alone. Alone is still no fun. But it was the background "normal" in my life. Kind of like the wallpaper on my computer or smart phone.

Add to this the fact that we live in a world that is electronically connected, but not always connected in person.

Changing the Wallpaper

So I decided to make a play list of my favorite love songs. But with this list, I would not sing along.
I chose songs with lyrics I want to hear, and allowed myself to take them in. I listened and received these lyrics. I really felt that this is how someone feels about me.

It’s a way to call the One into my life. That One can be Spirit, or it can be the man of my dreams.

I listened to this playlist every day, and within a week, I felt lighter, happier, more loved. I began living more in Love. Why not live in Love every day. Walk through it, let it wash through me, feel it, appreciate all the beauty around me. It feels good! Why not?

A New Normal

It made a difference in how I showed up in the world. How do I know? Because a close friend mentioned to me that I had been more positive. I smiled and said, “I shifted something inside me, and it changed how I show up.”

Give it a try. Look for your favorite love songs, and put them on your smart phone, or burn them to a CD. Listen every day as if those songs were being sung to you. And see if it makes a difference in your background feeling of the world.

It's a Practice to Remember

And when I feel myself slipping into the "I'm alone." pitty pot, I listen to the playlist again and remember how cherished I am.

My Playlist

Make your own playlist. Pick songs you wont' be tempted to sing along with. Learn to RECEIVE them in your heart! To get you started, here's what's on my playlist:

Be Mine, David Gray
Absolutely, the Subdudes
Back Door to My Heart, Mark Selby
Close Your Eyes, Aaron Neville
Crazy Love, Van Morrison
Don’t You Know, Keb’ Mo’
Every Morning, Keb’ Mo’
Have I Told You Lately, Van Morrison
I Have Loved You For a Thousand Lifetimes, Michael Whalen
Just the One (I’ve Been Looking For), Huey Lewis
Morning Glory, the Subdudes
Now and Always, David Gray
Ribbon In the Sky, Stevie Wonder
She Is My Everything, John Prine
Sound of Her Voice, the Subdudes
Staight Into Sunrise, Gato Barbieri
Stay Here In Your Arms, Cedric Burnside
Tell Everybody I Know, Keb’ Mo’
Two of Us, the Beatles

Death - a Once In A Lifetime Opportunity

Death is a once in a life opportunity. I don't want to miss it.
That's how I replied as a tween when someone said that they wanted to die in their sleep.

Well, it's once in a lifetime for most of us anyway. We've all heard stories or read books about people who lived to tell about their near-death experiences.

Eastern Wisdom

I've dallied with Eastern Philosophies since I first discovered them at age 17. And some traditions say Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is an excellent resource for anyone interested in this topic. It describes a meditation practice to prepare for this sacred moment.
that our entire lives can be a preparation for that sacred moment when we slip out of the body. The

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, that moment is when many people finally forgive someone they couldn't, reveal secrets longings of their heart, realize that they wanted to give more of themselves.

A Sacred Moment

In witnessing these sacred moments, I remember that I want to live my life that way. When I hear, "Live each day as if it were your last.", I think of these things. I don't think it means to party til you drop, although some people may want to do that.

My father had an extended illness, and I was honored to witness in my many visits how his energy shifted. My mother died suddenly and unexpectedly, and I wonder whether she felt unfinished as she slipped away.

When I realize that anything could happen at any moment, and any day could be my last on Earth, I imagine what I might feel as I lay dying. What might I regret not saying or doing? What might I wish I had accomplished? Would I feel that I had finished my life... everything I wanted to accomplish? Both in the outer "success" realm, and in the inner, growth realm?

Couch Potato or Deep Living

So instead of watching another movie, I have the opportunity today, this evening, right now, to dive deep inside and ask those questions. To know more about who I am and why I came here. To be more awake instead of working on what the late Linda Webb-Kakabah called her "Coach Potato Resume."

My coach potato resume is pretty impressive already. I'm cancelling my Netflix streaming and Hulu subscriptions.

I want to build other parts of my resume.

I want to listen to the big I-am.

What About You?

What do you think about death?