Mindful moments in a frantic World

Welcome to the Get a Life blog today. You may find yourself here because you wanted to come along and read today's offering. You may find yourself here as you followed the divine wisdom of  a Google search , or you may find yourself here completely by accident (there's no such thing by the way)

Whatever your reason.... I urge you to .....

BE HERE NOW.

How are you being today?
You may say that's an unusual question to ask. You might usually ask "How are you doing?", right?


But therein lies the issue.
We're so busy "doing" in our lives, we often forget to BE.

I have some questions for you:

Are you being on purpose?
Let's just consider that a moment, are you purposely being?

I wonder are you a time traveller? Are you a Dr Who?
I'm one, I'll bet you are too.

Take a moment now to consider just how much of your day do you spend thinking about the past? Or worrying about the future?

In fact maybe you've already done it... I mean time travelled during the time you've been reading this blog. Thinking about a conversation you had earlier, what time did you put the washing in, what you over heard in the office, or maybe anticipating the meeting you have later, or what to make for tea, or that one other "Thing" you've just remembered that must be added to your "To do" list.... it could be any number of thoughts that have popped in since you began reading... you've been playing at being a Universal time lord.... you've been Dr Who again.

Well as John Lennon once said " Life is what happens whilst you're busy doing other things" or words to that effect.

Life is happening NOW..... and again NOW..... and again NOW.... moment by moment... Just how many juicy nuggets are we missing?

I wonder, how many of us have taken the same old route to work, maybe driving the same roads, half listening to the same radio station or CD, only to arrive at our destination and not be able to recall getting there?

So, what we're suggesting here is that we're moving through life in a trance much of the time.

Hang on... So let's just check this theory out.... we're either putting in a stint of being Dr Who, universal time lord... or we're in a trance.... so I'm curious... where's life happening in all of this?

It's no wonder  we sometimes struggle to fit it all in.

Now I don't know about you, but if this life of ours is our school, or our learning experience, then I guess what I'm deducing here is that half the time we're all playing truant!

Blimey, we're never going to make prefect at this rate ;)

So let me dispel a myth before we really get down to this mindful stuff...
I'm going to begin by saying being mindful doesn't mean you have to be sitting cross legged, in a lotus type position, meditating for hours on end... I'll be honest here, if that were the case, I wouldn't stand a chance. Although if that's your practice, that's fine with me.

Practice. Now there's a word.
Mindfulness is a practice. It takes practice. Continual awareness and practice.
And we all know what practice makes, don't we?

Permanent.

What this means is, where ever you are, whatever you're doing/ being you can be it mindfully.

Let's try it right now...

Breathe, simply breathe. Be aware of the sensation of your body being breathed. Be present with your breath. Feel the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe. Observe the difference in temperature when you breathe in and breathe out.

You can be with your breath for a few minutes.

How is it for you?

Let's try something else...
Be aware of sitting where you're sitting... maybe you're noticing your bottom on the seat beneath you, or a pressure underneath your thighs... just observe what you observe. If emotion comes up simply acknowledge it, no need to follow it, just observe...

Be aware of your body being breathed. The rise and fall of your breath. Now drop into your body, be where you are right now. Drop into your chest/ heart centre, just check in there, observe and acknowledge, no need to follow, simply observe. Now drop into your belly, just check in with your belly, observe and acknowledge, no need to follow, simply be with your belly.

How is it for you?

Now if you're getting into this "Being" maybe you'd like to "Be" with another "Being" ?

You can try this with a friend or your partner perhaps. Sit facing one another and simply breathe, be aware of your body being breathed. Droop into your body, drop into your chest/ heart centre and check in there. Drop into your belly, check in with your belly. Now simply look into the eyes of the other person and smile. Be completely present. If feeling and emotions arise, acknowledge them, no need to follow then or judge them, simply be present with the other person.

Continue this for a few minutes in silence.

What do you notice when you are completely present with the other person?

So how many times in the day do we interact with others?

How much of the time are we completely present, without our own inner dialogue and chatter taking us time travelling ?

For those of you who have read my book, you will recall that I wrote about Namaste, Shalom and Aloha, all of these greetings hold such deep meanings of peace and love, but what of Hello?

Do we really take the time to be completely present with those we greet?

Is it me or is time speeding up?
Ask scientists and they will tell us that time is in fact really speeding up...
How do we slow it down? How can we savour more juicy moments in life ?

Well when I was a small child, time was the slowest ever, a day lasted a week and a year, well surely that was a lifetime when I was 5. Now I'm 47 weeks go by in the blink of an eye, and there's whole years that I find it difficult to account for !

We're all on the conveyor belt of life, as small children at the start of the conveyor belt it seems the checkout is a distant point on the horizon, but I find as a hurtle towards my half century that the conveyor belt seems to have picked up pace and the checkout is whilst still distant, coming closer into view. I'm sure if I could have a word with that checkout operator and ask them how can I slow the conveyor belt down, what would it take for them to take their foot off the pedal......
I'm guessing their answer would be this:

"Be present, where ever you are BE ALL THERE. Savour every moment. Be mindful. Slow down. Do one thing at once, do it slowly and deliberately. Do less, leave space.Spend time each day doing nothing. When you're with another person, be completely present. Eat, walk , cook, write bake, work slowly. Have an attitude of gratitude and park all judgement."

You know its a funny thing, when you are completely present and mindful in the moment, a very interesting thing happens.... time seems to expand!

Wishing you many mindful moments today,
Until next time,
make every moment count.

Lisa xxx