Since my heart attack back in January, a lot has changed, most noticeably my perception of time, of the importance of many things in my life, and what I want out of each minute of each day.
I’ve been thinking more and more about being mindful, being in the present, the here-and-now. When the potential of your own mortality is staring you right in the face, it forces you to look at how you view each moment you live and how present you are to your routines, or how you take for granted so many things in your daily life.
I think that the greatest gift I have been giving myself of late is to do one thing at a time. I think I was as bad as anyone else when it came to trying to do multiple things at once. When I was in administration in my school, I found that too many things were competing for my attention at once, and I gave each one of those things its space at the same time. Never fully completing something was a source of constant annoyance, discomfort, and concern. It meant that my plate was never empty because I gave each thing a space on the plate. I have become quite adept at compartmentalizing and only allowing one thing to occupy my attention at a time. And in those moments when I put off attending to that thing that is especially clamoring for my attention (because it should be completed within a certain time frame), I pay the price of depression and malaise.
To do one thing at a time is to be mindful, to give yourself over to it completely. Mindfulness needs cultivation and practice, but it is amazing how you can derive joy from the practice of anything as long as you are one with that thing you are doing. A perfect example is what I am writing at this moment; I am totally mindful to what I am saying and the words are literally flying out of my fingers. This is much less a process of rational thought than it is of the heart speaking through words, since it is the heart that is seeing these concepts and projecting them out of me and onto this space. Nothing else is with me at present, nothing work-related, related to my relationships or dreams or to-do lists. There is an energy that I feel as I write this because I am totally at one with these thoughts and these words and these feelings.
Have you ever made the bed, or raked leaves, or cleaned out the car, or played with your children, or listened to a friend and been in the flow of that moment, letting it be what it is, bringing no judgment or expectation to it. That is what I mean about being in the moment, about being mindful. I remember once playing with my daughter when she was about five. I can remember often being annoyed by her insistence that I play with her, because there always seemed to be other things I should have been doing, other things for which I was responsible that this “play date” would compromise. I remember one day, however, just giving myself to it, and as I did, I felt like I was flowing, and I felt like a child again because I could delight in the sheer joy of the fantasy and the make-believe that was where her mind was. As we played with the dolls and lived in that reality, everything else just went away for me. I was that activity. My daughter was so real to me, and it was as if I was the joy she was feeling. I don’t think I’ve recaptured that since, but I keep trying. And I work more and more at surrendering to reality these days since that is what ultimately will set me free, what will ultimately set my imagination free to roam where it will. When I come to that state of wonder as my basic way of being I will then know that I am truly liberated.
Please watch the following video in which Thich Nhat Hanh speaks about being present and being mindful. The mere gentleness of his voice, the acceptance of his demeanor is a powerful statement of the power of mindfulness for transforming us. Our go-go, drive-through lifestyle needs a powerful set of mentors like Mr. Hanh to transform our world, one person at a time. I also suggest that you read “The Mindfulness Guide for the Super Busy” by Leo Babauta (@www.zenhabits.net) where I found this lovely video in the first place.
Namaste,
