In the Catholic Times Sunday Chat Column, a psychological counselor introduces us to the concept of mindfulness and how she feels it may be helpful to the readers in getting order into our often hectic lives.
The Buddhists and many religions have made mindfulness a powerful procedure in their teaching and Catholics have expressed this way of life as Agere quod Agis, the Latin phrase (Do what you are doing).
We are exposed to a galore of self-help procedures, some not helpful, others bothersome, some not now, some make a lot of sense, and many we have heard about over the years expressed differently, putting them in our mental storehouse for mulling is all for the good.
The columnist begins by expressing a desire to complain to God if it was permissible to do so. This would be her first prayer for the New Year. Even though the year was filled with regret, she also feels that God gave her a fair chance for a new start, and secretly dreams of changes in her life.
Her biggest goal in the new year is to be more mindful. ‘Mindfulness’ refers to ‘the attitude of paying attention and noticing what is happening here, now, as it is.’ Jon Kabat-Zinn developed meditation beyond a specific religious practice and into a tool that everyone can use to train their minds and founded MBSR (Mindfullness-Based Stress Reduction). Regarding mindfulness, which is enjoying a worldwide craze, he says, ‘It is not about changing yourself, but about recognizing your own nature moment by moment'.
Faced with this explanation, many people ask, ‘What on earth is mindfulness?’ This is an age where it is a virtue to place a high value on what is clearly revealed right before our eyes and to urge us to reach a quick conclusion.
In that case, she says: ‘Just try it.’ Mindfulness should be approached as an experience rather than as a theory. Passing through moments when things don't seem to be going well is the path to mindfulness.
Again, the question is asked: what lies at the end of the road? Actually, she doesn't know yet. However, she would like to walk further on that path. She is trying to put down her smartphone just for a moment and experience the real world rather than the virtual world more vividly for a moment.
Out of 24 hours a day, how much time do you spend scrolling aimlessly and staring blankly at your smartphone? Have you ever felt sad and devastated because time flew by without you even knowing what you were doing? If you want something different in the new year, she can confidently say that mindfulness is the answer.
These days, she is trying mindfulness meditation with her clients (those receiving counseling). Mindfulness recommends turning back less to the doing mode and more to the being mode. Nowadays, we see many things in our society that are too lopsided and unbalanced. So too is the weight between modes of doing and modes of being. We are so busy living each day that we may be stamping our feet in confusion without knowing where to turn. Stop for a moment and just be still. That could be the beginning of mindfulness.
If the phrase ‘Mindfulness?’ with a question mark is added to your notes, and it leads to the thought of ‘Should I buy a book about it?’, she thinks her first diary of the new year will be full of meaning with that much sharing. So, the first line of her New Year’s goal is 'My mindfulness'. The second line is 'Your mindfulness'.
