Being of the moment and being mindful of our feelings can be a great asset in personal progress. Many people, I could go so far as saying the majority of people especially in the US, are not conscious in the moment. They don’t rationally or objectively assess their feelings, thoughts and emotions. We get pissed off, angry, scream, rage, curse the gods about stupid little insignificant things that really have no impact on our lives, nonetheless we give them a space in our minds and hearts. Then we let those emotions boil inside our minds, constantly coming back to them and getting more pissed off. These are the habits that destroy, stress our relationships and make our days shit. And for what, because some person cut us off in traffic, said something hostile, or whatever it is that we get worked up over. Does that really warrant your whole day turning to shit? Absolutely not!
Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free. ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh
Mindfulness of my situations, moods, and emotions is a major mental practice I train at everyday. I’ve always been interested in Eastern philosophy and culture but until I read Thich Nhat Hanh’s Miracle of Mindfulness I had never implemented it in my daily routine. The book was a major impact in how I think, view and interact with the world. From the minute I started to absorb it I have been implementing the practices of mindfulness and being present in the moment. Up until the last few months I had been slacking in my practice of mindfulness but then came back to it and it has made worlds of difference in my general state of mind and creativity.
Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it. ~ Sharon Salzberg
Mindfulness can almost be done unconsciously when you live your life but where it really can come into play is when you get worked up. For a large portion of my life I had the propensity to irrationally get worked up and angry over things that other people do or things I had absolutely no control over. Immediately my rage would flare up, my mind would get clouded, and I would lose control of my emotions for the rest of the day. Seldom did my emotions ever result in violence but they festered and brewed inside my mind. These thoughts, emotions, and feelings would swell and consume me for hours, days, weeks, months or years. I had an epic ability to hold a grudge for the simplest wrong doing. It wasn’t until I started to let go of the things that I couldn’t control that I realized how toxic this behavior was. Mindfulness showed me the path to letting things go. I can still get pretty worked up or angered over stuff that doesn’t truly matter but now when it happens I almost immediately catch myself and I take stock of the emotions that I am feeling and assess whether or not they are grounded or have any benefit. When this happens I stop, take a few deep breaths, and ask myself; is this helpful, is this worth it, can I change the situation, will holding onto this be conducive to generating a good day? If any of these can be answered with “no” then I just let it go and move on. This is frequently reinforced by having great days, the negative is replaced with positivity. Negativity begets negativity, positivity begets positivity.
Mindfulness helps us freeze the frame so that we can become aware of our sensations and experiences as they are, without the distorting coloration of socially conditioned responses or habitual reactions. ~ Henepola Gunaratana
It doesn’t take much to be mindful. One great example that Thich Nhat Hanh uses in his book is washing dishes. We often times do dishes to just get them done as quickly and efficiently as possible, rushing and focusing into the next task, not the one we are actively participating in. This situation is something everyone can agree on, dishes are not an overly enjoyable task to do and mostly we just want to get them done. What he talks about though and which is a common practice in their temple is doing dishes for the sake of doing dishes, focusing on every dish that comes into our hands. Being with the dishes, in the moment, of the moment, not focusing on getting them done quicker or focusing on what we are going to do next but focusing on what we are doing right now. At first I thought this was insane, but then I thought about if for a little while; I tried it. The result was it made doing the dishes much more enjoyable, satisfying, and relaxing. While I was doing the dishes I was almost in a state of meditation, I was present in the moment and it was rewarding. This lesson drastically change my life, no longer did I think the concept to be insane but then I expanded my thought. I pondered the rest of my day, I thought about how much time throughout the day I spent focusing and planning what I’m going to do next. The depressing hard truth was, almost everything I did was revolved around what I was going to do next. The only time I wasn’t focused on the next thing was while I was brushing my teeth or in the shower, otherwise I was never in the moment but always focusing on the next thing. I quickly realized I’m not the only one, it’s the nature of our society and modern culture. I started focusing on doing things for the sake of doing them no matter how shitty or unimportant they may be. This practice alone lifts the mood and allows for a more positive perspective on life.
The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh
Mindfulness is practiced by many highly successful people. Their ability and our ability to be in touch with our thoughts and emotions allows us to play at a higher level. Being present in the moment and experiencing the entire situation gives us the perspective to take advantage and make the best of any situation. Anger, resentment, shame, guilt, or any other negative emotion can hold us back, these emotions typically are a burden on us and can live rent free for days, weeks, months, or years before we can kick them out and sometimes for some people it may be too little too late and the damage is irreversible. When we practice mindfulness we can more readily identify these emotions that can destroy us and let them live in that moment while we move on without the freeloaders in our brain. I’ll end with a quote by Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook and billionaire, if it isn’t proof that mindfulness works then I don’t there is any.
Mindfulness has helped me succeed in almost every dimension of my life. By stopping regularly to look inward and become aware of my mental state, I stay connected to the source of my actions and thoughts and can guide them with considerably more intention. ~ Dustin Moskovitz