Mindfulness

Been reminded often this week about the freedom that comes from being mindful of the moment. Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and Professor of Medicine emeritus, and he defines mindfulness as this, "mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, as if you life depended on it, non-judgemental." which if practiced, just changes the entire way we react to situations and how we live our lives.

Matthew 6 says in verse 34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Its about being mindful of the moment, not worried about the future or the past, just what is happening at that very moment. The freedom of not holding on to worry about what might happen, or what did happen and can't be changed, because that moment no longer exists, gives us so much more control over the very moment we are living in. We see clearer, we handle things more calmly and we don't beat ourselves up so much about what we might have said, might have done etc. Being mindful of the moment also makes us think more, chose our words with care and our actions with deliberation. It takes training and I am just a baby learning how to crawl regarding being mindful. I am learning to recognize my emotional state. It might be that I am fearful, sad, angry, frustrated, annoyed, impatient, irritated, impatient, or on the flip side, joyful, happy, excited, hopeful, grateful, loving, etc. Whichever feeling it is, it influences how I feel about a situation, that very moment in time and being aware of my emotional state, and then I can see how my emotions, my feelings actually can create a state of judging. It makes a situation more about me, than what is reality. Say you are feeling a bit insecure, suddenly you question whatever is said, in that vein of thought. You instantly look for something to feed that state of mind you are in. Living in the moment helps you realize that you can in fairness, step back a second, in the moment and see that what is taking place is what it is, not what you are making it into. The stress falls away. We come to our senses. We feel what is really taking place. We don't hurt the clueless with our emotions and thoughts that they have no part of in our minds at that moment !