The beauty of mindfulness is that it’s about our whole experience.
“What does that mean?” you may ask.
Well it’s difficult to describe, but it’s true that it’s all about living in the present moment.
Why?
Because that’s the only moment we have.
Our teacher on the course that I’ve been taking over 2 of the last 3 weekends, asked us to imagine the future, without thinking about it.
Everyone looked a bit bamboozled.
Try it now – go on!
The future only exists as thoughts in our minds. As does the past.
And we can construct them any way we like, which is great.
But sometimes we imagine them in a negative way. And that isn’t helpful.
Mindfulness is about acceptance. We accept our experiences in the present moment exactly as they are.
Many people (including myself) have worried about doing meditation wrong – we can’t sit still, we get bored, our mind wanders etc., etc.
I learnt that this is all part of the meditation. We just need to bring our mind back to the moment. Not just when we are meditating, but in every moment.
Just do it when we remember.
And to listen and be curious about where our mind goes when it wanders off.
That way we learn lots about ourselves.
It’s also a good idea to focus our attention on any points of discomfort in our body. We need to be curious – really feel the niggly, gnarly bits.
These feelings want to be seen and heard.
If you truly listen, they want to tell you something.
And when they’re acknowledged and shown your love, they start to dissipate and dissolve.
Like magic.
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