Mindfulness changed my life. Or, rather, it put me squarely back into the driver’s seat of my life.
I spent a lot of time anxious about where I was heading or consumed with where I’d been, and a few simple techniques brought me back here, to the moment, where I could again focus on the road.
Will it do that for you? I have no idea. All I can share is my experience.
No matter who we are or where we’re going in our lives, mindfulness is something we can practice. It’s not a destination we reach. Rather, it’s something we’re always practicing…always moving toward.
I first encountered mindfulness over 25 years ago. I met a man at a local gathering who would eventually become a key navigator on my journey. He taught me my first technique in mindfulness meditation, although, at the time, I had no idea that’s what it was.
He told me this: Pick a spot on the wall or on the floor and make it the focus of your attention. Look at it like it’s your job. Breathe. If any thought or feeling takes your attention away from your job of focused attention, simply bring your attention back. Don’t fight. Just bring it back gently.
That simple teaching in the discipline of mindfulness meditation has traveled with me now for a very long time. I practice it, but can never master it. I strive onward towards it, but never fully arrive. And that’s the point. The journey of mindfulness is the destination. Its simplicity has been a tool for calmness and centering, inspiration for many talks, and a foundation on which to write my novel, An Audible Silence.
The point is this: You don’t need years of training to take the mindfulness trek. You only need a starting point and a little discipline. Try my teacher’s technique or create one of your own. But practice each and every day. Or, if you’re so bold, each and every moment. You know where you want to go. To get there, keep moving toward mindful.