August 21, 2015
My own ignorance of all things technical has kept me from writing recently. Mostly I forget to just read the screen and instead expect things to automatically do what they are supposed to do. This is another area where I've decided I need to practice mindfulness. When I took the vow "to be mindful and present with all of who I am" in my first year at ChIME (The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine), I thought it would be a simple practice of paying attention. With ADD and dependence on my mind more than my feelings, mindfulness has been a dedicated teacher and I have been a somewhat lazy student.
Part of me thought that if I just thought to be mindful, I would be. But it is a practice. And like any other skill we want to develop, we must repeat it over and over again, with intention. It is so easy to get tripped up, literally. For me it has been a physical experience. I have had a tendency to trip for a few years, caused by tightness in my lower back. My legs don't always follow my mind. About nine years ago, I could walk only a few hundred feet before getting foot drag in my right foot. Through years of physical therapy, massage, rolfing, yoga and weight training I am now able to walk 2 - 3 miles with no problems.
However, when my mind is out of my body and I'm not focused on what I'm doing, I trip, and it's usually on the road. I've had many falls but have never broken bones. I've been sore and mostly annoyed and angry at my body. When I last when to my osteopath, I desperately wanted him to tell me there was something wrong with my brain, that the connection of body to mind got disconnected somehow and that's why I tripped and fell. He paused for a minute and looked at me and said:
" It's really about mindfulness." That sent me back to meditation on what happens when I trip, where is my mind? How do I get out of the present moment? And so I have learned that my vow to be mindful was a gift I gave myself not only for my spiritual life but the whole connection of body, mind and spirit.
By making a comment, perhaps we can begin a conversation about mindfulness.
