Attracting Abundance

The Law

Two Doors to Success

Happiness - XVII

Stay in the present - Mindfulness

It is most important that we live a wakeful life in the living present with an unencumbered free mind honestly trying to live according to our highest convictions. He who suffocates this moment with the worries of the moments that are past or moments that are yet not, is making everything possible to make his future unhappy and unfulfilled.

"In the heart of this moment is eternity"

.... Meister Eckhart

And if this moment we have lived well, done our best, we may very well leave the rest. For nothing better can be ever be done for future than always doing our very best right now. We may, however, always examine our doing best and trying to find methods of even bettering our best-doing. Worry for things gone past and for the future is futile, to counteract which is to live in the present with all or powers poised and applied. Those who want to increase their well being must scrupulously avoid living in the past and the future, and live in the living present.

Stay in the present. Easy said than done. The mind of ours is a monkey jumping from one branch to the other, from one tree to the other. To restrain it at one place requires some doing. The hardest task in life is not bringing up children, but bringing up oneself. To one who knows how to discipline oneself his other tasks become easy. I do not have nor do I know of any sleigh of hand or mind which can improve mindfulness. But I do know a process which, if cultivated over a period of time, works wonders. 

Let us put a definition to mindfulness.

Mindfulness is paying attention

in the present,

on purpose, and 

non-judgmentally 

Mindfulness is essentially staying in the present not letting what has happened in the past and not permitting our worries and plans for the future to interfere with what we are engaged in now. This is how we can best execute our present engagement with all energy of our mind, body and soul focused on what we are doing now. It is very often said that "the past is gone and the future is not yet, so do not think about past and future". As I had said earlier that this is easy said than done. Mindfulness, per se, does not demand that you do not think of the past and the future. It says that when you slide back to the past or reside in the future, be consciously aware that you are doing that. It is another matter that the habit of thinking much about the past and worrying about the future is at the cost of the present moment.

There is a difference between mindfulness and awareness. That difference is defined by "on purpose". What do you do when you eat your lunch or dinner? Do you talk with the people with you? Do you watch the TV? Do you plan your next plan of action? Do you read a book or a newspaper? If you do any of the above or more, you are not mindful of your food. You are just aware that you are taking your food. While one part of your mind is aware of your taking food, all other parts of the mind are busy elsewhere. If you are mindful, your complete concentration will be on the food in front of you. You will taste every morsel and relish the taste and fragrance of your food. You will put small morsels in your mouth and chew well. When you are mindful, your entire world is the food in front of you. Even when you get distracted once in a while, you will drag your focus back to the food. Purposefulness is a very important part of mindfulness. Having the purpose to stay with the present engagement, howsoever trivial and mundane, is an essential part of training the mind to be mindful.

The last component of mindfulness is "acceptance" or being non-judgmental. This is a  very sensitive issue with most of us. This has been explained differently by different faiths some of which ask us to achieve very high levels of detachment and spiritual development. i will put it in a perspective which can be appreciated by a common person with willingness to become mindful. Acceptance or being non-judgmental essentially requires that we acknowledge an experience, accept that such an experience has happened, dissect the experience for its true nature, put  into motion necessary actions to neutralize the negative effect if any and let it go. I expressly forbid you to fall in to the emotional loop which goes on building up if you continue to dwell in the domain of any experience. In other words I warn you against the dangers of wallowing in the experience if its effect on you are not favorable or dancing in euphoria if the the effect of the experience is favorable. Let the experience or stimuli live for as short as possible and let it go as soon as possible. Always keep in mind that an experience is just that - an experience. Only 1 % of our total daily experiences have a direct power over us in the sense that we can truly categorize them as having the power to make us sad or happy. For example if someone dies in the family, you will naturally be sad for some time. Whether this will have a favorable impact on us or an unfavorable one, is not for us to dwell on because we do not know. But we waste lot of time and energy doing precisely that - dwelling. All other experiences are branded and given color by our paradigms - our mindset. Developing acceptance empowers you to treat the experiences neutrally without permitting them to take control over you.

Meditation is one of the most effective tools for developing mindfulness. I prefer two meditations. In one I just feel my breath coming in and going out. In the second one, I visualize myself out of my body, and see me meditating. I have found another one in youtube which is also quite helpful. See what works for you. You must be comfortable with your choice of meditation. If you find meditation difficult, you may also go to nature at a time when you are not disturbed by the presence of others or car honking. Just stay with nature quietly.

Namaste



Prabir