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Monday Morning Musings Mindfulness
Jan. 27th, 2020 12:11 pmMindfulness (noun)- a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
It is funny when you find a word for something you have been doing most of your life. I called it being in the here and now and learned it from my study of Zen. It had helped me through some dark times in my life by allowing me to deal with what is in front of me rather than what has been and what it might be.
Kung Fu Panda had it right when Oogway said “You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There is a saying: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called present.” There is a lot of spiritually in that film.
I learned the phrase ‘being in the moment’ in my first acting class in college. It is a technique to give your fellow actors the energy for the scene and act and react to lines you may have heard 1000 times or more.
Something I had to think about when I first started is now second nature to me. I find my brain scattering and fragmenting going from past to present to future, so I slow down and take a couple of deep breaths and bring myself to the now. What must happen now? What can move to the next leaving the now? It’s a way to both clear my head and plan the next move.
Thinking about the now does not diminish either the past or the future but pulls both into sharp focus.
The curve balls that life throws at us, both the little and the big, make us change what we thought we were going to do. Like a traffic light is out so one has to go another route which might add time to the trip which has to be taken into account at the destination. A health or financial crises can throw one’s entire life into chaos and all plans are off the table until it is dealt with.
But pulling myself to my current time and place give me the anchor I need to work my way through whatever I am dealing with.
There are times that I give myself a block of time to do things. The gym is where I take off my watch and not worry how long it takes me to do anything. I start with point A and go to the end of my routine and that’s the amount of time I use. Shopping for groceries is another situation where it is not the amount of the time but what is on the list. No pressure to get things into the cart and out. I don’t overlook things on the list.
Today I have a number of things that need to be done in a certain order. However, I forgot a component to the order, so I have reworked it in my head. I am at a doctor’s appointment and that is another open-ended time situation.
I am grateful for learning something before it had a name.
It is funny when you find a word for something you have been doing most of your life. I called it being in the here and now and learned it from my study of Zen. It had helped me through some dark times in my life by allowing me to deal with what is in front of me rather than what has been and what it might be.
Kung Fu Panda had it right when Oogway said “You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There is a saying: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called present.” There is a lot of spiritually in that film.
I learned the phrase ‘being in the moment’ in my first acting class in college. It is a technique to give your fellow actors the energy for the scene and act and react to lines you may have heard 1000 times or more.
Something I had to think about when I first started is now second nature to me. I find my brain scattering and fragmenting going from past to present to future, so I slow down and take a couple of deep breaths and bring myself to the now. What must happen now? What can move to the next leaving the now? It’s a way to both clear my head and plan the next move.
Thinking about the now does not diminish either the past or the future but pulls both into sharp focus.
The curve balls that life throws at us, both the little and the big, make us change what we thought we were going to do. Like a traffic light is out so one has to go another route which might add time to the trip which has to be taken into account at the destination. A health or financial crises can throw one’s entire life into chaos and all plans are off the table until it is dealt with.
But pulling myself to my current time and place give me the anchor I need to work my way through whatever I am dealing with.
There are times that I give myself a block of time to do things. The gym is where I take off my watch and not worry how long it takes me to do anything. I start with point A and go to the end of my routine and that’s the amount of time I use. Shopping for groceries is another situation where it is not the amount of the time but what is on the list. No pressure to get things into the cart and out. I don’t overlook things on the list.
Today I have a number of things that need to be done in a certain order. However, I forgot a component to the order, so I have reworked it in my head. I am at a doctor’s appointment and that is another open-ended time situation.
I am grateful for learning something before it had a name.
