Mindfulness is all around us at the moment, there isn’t a day that goes past without somebody mentioning it, at work, in the medias…
I used to approach mindfulness with a very focused, “I am going to be mindful of my actions” state of mind. It kind of worked when I was focused on what I was doing, I was in the moment, not thinking of anything else, but it didn’t seem to last for very long. I knew that practice is the key, so I tried and practise as often as I thought about it, which wasn’t often enough to make it into a habit.
I played with the concept of mindfulness for a long time, dipping in and out of it, not really getting anywhere with it, until I heard on talk on meditation during which the speaker explained that there was no real need to sit in a specific way, with the hands in a precise position meditate properly. His point of view was that sitting properly and hand positioning where helpful but shouldn’t stand in the way of anybody meditating. According to his, meditation is about focusing on the breath, no matter when, where or how you do it.
This very refreshing approach to meditation made me wonder about mindfulness. Maybe I was trying to hard to be mindful and I should just enjoy the moment.
This little brain wave of mine was confirmed this morning when, on the way to school, my daughter stopped to look at an injured daddy long leg on the grass. My first reaction was to tell her to leave it and carry on walking so as not to be late for school. Then I remembered the talk and stopped myself, my daughter was in the moment. School had been momentarily forgotten, she was captivated by the appearance of the daddy long leg on the grass. I walked across to where she was standing and we both looked at the little creature and discussed how it must have got hurt.
When we started walking to school a few minutes later, I realise that this was mindfulness. I had stopped worrying about being late for school (we had plenty of time anyway, which I knew fully well!), about my day at work. I was truly in the moment, without effort to be mindful. I just let the moment be and enjoyed witnessing it.