This is an article I delayed a long time. Better late than never, right? You may wonder why mindfulness? Why should we try to maintain our awareness on our awareness (by definition this is mindfulness) Let me explain why. Mind you this is not a list of benefits of mindfulness but rather a motivational speech.
Benefits of mindfulness - at Breakfast
What have you eaten for your breakfast today? Some bread with eggs and milk? Did you know what it tasted like? Can you remember the taste? Or were you not aware of the taste. Maybe you were listening to the morning news bulletin or busy getting ready to work. Maybe you were thinking about the long list of tasks which needed to be completed today. But you missed your breakfast, the taste it had to offer. Maybe it went down your throat in a minute or two, just like the day before. But, what about the dinner you had last Saturday night with your friends. Maybe you had time to savor the bites. So, if you want to feel the taste you need to be mindful when you are eating right?
Some time ago, there was some instruction somewhere that if you want to digest your food better you need to chew your food properly. And I practically used this myself thinking that I should chew each mouthful at least 10 times, before I swallow it. I learned that by doing this, I was more aware of the food which was in my mouth than what is going to come into my mouth, or what was in the plate. I was more aware of how much the stomach was filled, I was more aware of the tastes as it was chewed, and taste buds were more stimulated. Mind wants to move to the next mouthful, but the extra pause gave me time to savor the moment. Slow is new fast right?
Benefits of mindfulness - in the Garden
Next, we will move to the garden. How many times you looked at the trees in your garden for the whole last year? The garden is for our relaxation. You may have spent lot of money trying to keep it tidy. Maybe it is left to grow wild. Either way, is good as long as you have watched. Did you see the branches? Did you see the leaves? Did you see their different colors change day by day? I wonder what happened. I am sure they were green at some point, and suddenly you saw them in the Autumn. When they were yellow, but, you missed the entire time period in between. It doesn't mean that we should be staring at the window looking at the trees entire day. Yet, we do not need to travel too far into the woods to find peace. Maybe it is just by the window, and you may have missed it entire time because you are not mindful.
Similarly, even if you were in the deep woods you would miss the entire experience if you just did focused on photography and trying to capture the moment with your lenses. Mindfulness is the Great Guide to the nature, good thing is he is never far away from you, and you can always summon, if you know how to.
Benefits of mindfulness at work - time is money.
Time is money, right? If you are paid by the hour this is so true. Even if you are not paid by the hour, you will spend time doing your work, some human hours. What exactly are you being paid for? If you think about this question you will come to notice, it is not your time they are paying for, but your body and mind work. Body work need your mind to be present during that time. Of course, you can make your mind wonder away if the task is monotonous yet, there should be some awareness about the work. This is why the employees are not allowed to use their phones or surf the internet while at some jobs. So, these human hours are hours that are not yours. You cannot put your mind to things that you like rather your employers need. If you ask me when do you find it is most difficult to stay mindful, I would say at my job. But I believe one day I would be able to, and nobody would be able to steal my hours even when I am at work and they would still be 'my' hours or rather 'hours'. If you don't understand the argument, think about the tree by the window analogy. It is like looking at the tree twice a year. I see, looking at myself just before I go to work, and next I just see the autumn tree, in a tired and stressed with a lot of yellow leaves. I even did not know the factors which lead to that state. What did I miss? An entire day of my mindfulness. Has it happened to you before?
Mindfulness is the art of living.
By now, you would understand, mindfulness is the key to understanding mind. If you look at the mind, it changes over the course of the time. With various external and internal factors. Often we would see the outcome, we would see ourselves stressed, angry sad and happy. And we would not know how we came to these. If given long enough time we would see trees would lose all their leaves and back again in spring with full colorful self. I see mindfulness as living. If you really want to live a life, you have to be mindful. As it is not something we should be doing, it is what we are. Mindfulness is living itself. All other healthy benefits are just side effects of mindfulness. This is the argument I wanted to emphasize when I discussed about the goal of mindfulness.
What do you think about living a mindful life? Let me know in comments
I had a dream a wonderful one
I was a bird in it, and I was flying
I was a tree and stood tall on a hill
I was a leaf a rabbit, a rock in a brook
I was the earth, the sun and the moon
And I debated with myself on God and greed
I screamed when I couldn't wake up
While hot tears ran down my cheeks
So I slept, and woke up in the dream
Back again for another day of dreaming.
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