The opportunity of every mundane moment…

 

It’s funny, really.

Mindfulness is this. Just this. Being present with what already is.

And yet it is so very challenging to practice.

There are so many things that seem to push and pull us away:

• Shoulds – whatever it is, it should be something different or being done differently. That nagging feeling that we should be someone different, or that the situation should somehow be different than it is.
• Aversion – whatever it is, we don’t want it. This back pain, this boss, this job, this disgusting dinner on our plate, this worldwide war, famine, the noise, the feelings of anger or guilt… we want to run, hide, or fight. Anything to make the discomfort and hurting stop.
• Clinging – whatever it is, we want it. Now. And we want to keep it. To stay snuggled in bed and skip work, to keep eating the chocolate cake, to protect My house, My car, My identity. If it feels good and it’s mine, we’ll do almost anything to keep it that way.
• Boredom – whatever it is, we don’t really care. We’ve lost the luster and everything feels ho-hum.

There’s no need to try and avoid any of these states. They are just as much a part of our being as seemingly more desirable ways of living. Instead, we can use mindfulness as our tool to observe the consequences when we should all over ourselves, when we cling and avoid, when we make choices out of blind boredom.

We can drop into the experience – whatever it is – again and again, and use the very thing we are trying to reach as our practice: mindful presence.

Mindfulness begins Here. Now. There is nowhere else to be, nothing else to be doing. If you are in pain, be with your pain. If you are exhausted or excited, be with that fatigue or excitement. There is nothing else you should be doing, nor no one else you should be in order to practice. You do not have to wait until the kids are out of the house or until you’ve lost 5 pounds or until you’ve sent off that last email.

Mindfulness is being in awareness of the flow of what is.

That is where you begin and where you return to, again and again.

This word. (And this one.) This thought. This breath.

And why practice this?

Because mindful awareness is where it all begins.

Once you begin being fully present, feeling fully present with what is, you begin playing a consciously creative part in your life. You truly begin to understand, see, and to experience the magic of the mundane.

This “something more” you’ve felt that you need? You discover it, right where you are.

Do not let me lead you astray: Mindfulness isn’t moving into some blissful state of being. Being present with what is means being present with all of it. There are some difficult things in this world – and if we are blessed, we will become aware of them.

But as we become more and more engaged with what is right in front of us and what is within,we become more capable of making decisions that create a world in which we want to live. We stop expecting things to be different, “should-ing” our moments away, running from those things we want to avoid, and clinging to those things that are impermanent.

We come to understand, beyond logic, that our thoughts, bodies, nature, and each other are intimately connected. And as we return again and again to awareness of what is, we find ourselves able to enter into creative play with this web.

Each dish we wash, each grumpy person we pass, each fear-inducing thought that we have becomes another chance to practice.

Every mundane moment is an opportunity to take a breath and to be creatively engaged with, quite simply, what is.