Mindfulness Practices

What are you doing right now?  Are you here, with me, 100 percent, or is your mind engaged in an internal conversation?  For example, as you read this you might also be thinking, "I have hear this before . . .", or maybe you are thinking about the next web site that you want to visit, or what you are going to have for lunch. 

The capabilities of the human mind are staggering.  We cycle from one thought to the next so quickly that we fool ourselves into thinking that we can actually multi-task.  We do it all the time.  But, when was the last time that you were totally immersed in one activity?  So deeply immersed that you lost track of time?  That is what it feels like to be mindful.

A common Buddhist saying is to "Be here now."  Not to be in the past, the future or in six different places at once.  Just be here, now!  In addition to meditation, where I try to calm the monkeys that jump from branch-to-branch in my brain, I have two other activities that I try to perform with mindulness, and each give me joy.

One of my mindful actities is to wash the dishes.  Yes, we have an automatice dishwasher, but I haven't used it in over ten years.  In fact, it is just another cupboard in the kitchen now.  No one wants to be with me when I wash the dishes; I think that they are afraid that I might ask them to dry and stack.  So when I wash dishes I am completely alone and I can focus my attention on each plate or cup, one at a time, and give it my full and undivided attention.  I don't use the time to plan activities, mentally write an article, or review the day.  I use the time to wash dishes.  That is how I have found mindfulness in an ordinary activity.

My other mindful activity is photography.  Our minds are great storytellers.  They fill in details, embelish, and improve what we remember and what we see.  If you and I were to look at the Blue Ridge Mountains from here I expect that we would both see different images.  I might focus on individual trees parading across the tops of the mountains 20 miles away while you might "see" the interplay of lights and shadows.  When I photograph I try to see with my eye/mind exactly what the camera is "seeing".  I try to suspend judgement and analysis and just see.  You can see some of my mindful and not-so-mindful photos by clicking on the link under "useful links".

This week as part of your wellness practice find an activity in which you can be mindfully immersed.  Find an activity where you can just be there now.

To your health . . . .