Mindfulness Meditation
Each day we can choose to designate a few minutes of just sitting and being present. This is called Mindfulness Meditation. We bring ourselves back to our body, to the body sensations, our emotions, our thoughts, what we hear. We also can go through our day noticing what we smell, the water on our body in the shower, the bark of our dog or meow of our cat. We notice without judgement. We drop the story of it. Just noticing what is occurring right now in the present moment brings us back to ourselves. We start to wake up to our amazing world and lives. This is where true joy is found—the kind that is in us always and cannot be taken away.
From Doing to Being
Mindfulness is awareness of the present moment—what is here, right now. It is going from doing to being. We accept things as they are because they are. This doesn’t mean not changing anything. It means slowing down for even a moment, dropping our story about it, and noticing what is. It is from this place that right action, true creativity, and healing occur. We start noticing the veins in a leaf, the wonder of a waterfall, and even things that are uncomfortable. We accept them all. Allowing things to be just as they are without wanting to fix them or change them is unconditional love. We extend this love to ourselves if we simply allow ourselves to be. We resist nothing. Everything is welcome. Compassion and self-compassion naturally arises.
Then we can extend this to hear sounds, notice thoughts, notice emotions, all without judgement or a story. We notice with kindness. We are patient with ourselves. We notice things with a beginner’s mind, as if experiencing this for the first time.