The water was still. The only sounds were of the occasional car and the plunk of a hook. The sun was about to crest the horizon. In a lake full of dead trees, the beauty was breathtaking.
The slightest breeze glides us along the surface, the only thing keeping us tethered to that spot was the anchor.
There is a tremendous amount of peace I feel when I am near water. Floating on top of it. Sitting next to it as it moves sticks and leaves from and to faraway places. I sometimes think how quickly a leaf comes and goes, not stopping along its way, and realize that we sometimes – most of the time – do the same. Auto-pilot guiding us from here to there and back again. The difference is we have a choice. We aren’t carried by a current with no ability to pull over or stop in the middle of the road. We can enjoy life. We can make changes. We can swim upstream. Why don’t we?
Simple: Expectations.
Expectations we place upon ourselves to provide for…. Expectations our families and friends place upon us to be there for…. Fill in these blanks.
So many of us are caught up in the external drive of our lives, that we forget to live in our lives. To be present. To pull over and admire the beauty of our world. Vacations become so much about getting to the destination that we forget to enjoy the journey.
If we could, for one day, be hyper-aware of our lives, what would we find?
How can we incorporate these feelings of awe and admiration and pure happiness into a small part of our lives, and which part would we choose first?
Mindfulness is a buzz word these days. Everyone is talking about it, preaching it, but are we practicing it? I’m going to say no. We talk a good game, but we as humans are still programmed to react first and think second. We are quick to spew anger at our family – our children – before we even consider the intent behind the actions or words.
Mindfulness is taking in the sound of your children playing and knowing it is the best sound on the planet. It is seeing the smiles, the flowers, the sunset and even the beauty of bed head. It is tasting your food as if this is the first experience you’ve ever had with food. It is feeling the grass/sand under feet, the touch of the clothes on your body, the way your spouse’s hand feels in yours.
Mindfulness is releasing judgement of the way we look. Releasing judgement of the actions of others. It’s releasing the things that cause us stress.
This isn’t a how to article to start practicing being mindful. This is a blog to get you to think about how you show up, how you deal with stress, how you interact in your world. This is to get you thinking. All you have to do is decide you want to, and then start living in your life.