Mindful?

There has been a lot of hype lately about mindfulness as a new approach to stress reduction, to increasing that inner Zen we are all after.  You know that inner peace you really start to miss a few minute after you have bitten someone’s head off or the shrill tone in your voice has “inspired” the kiddo’s to hide in an upstairs closet for a bit.  In the daily hustle and bustle, under stress we all start to loose track of the here and now. 

Take a quick inventory of your thoughts over the past few minutes, if you look at them I am betting most are not anchored in the present, the hear and now.  If you are anything like me you mind is racing though the past and future at light speed.  I am remembering that I forgot to drop overdue library books off on my way home, wishing I had included some specific piece of advice when I was coaching a teacher earlier today, thinking about what I am going to pack for lunches tomorrow, for the rest of the week, lamenting my lack of a workout today, and wondering if putting the package I need to mail under my car keys will help me remember to send it tomorrow.  I get stressed and tired just thinking about all that stuff.  If you review the list they are all time travel of the mind, they are all forward or backward thinking and this is not only exhausting but stressful.  More importantly they take us away for the joys of the present.  

Mindfulness is a old but good practice based in eastern philosophy designed to combat these stressors, to give our minds and rest, and to savor the smaller pieces of life by being attentive to them.  To slow down.  It is about focusing your attention as a means of doing this.  And in so doing increasing your ability to do so.  If you think of your attention span as a muscle than mindfulness is an approach to strengthen and exercise that muscle.  

There are tons of books, research, and websites dedicated to the practice of mindfulness, but a great place to start is this month’s issue of Time Magazine. 

Or this step by step guide.