Mindfulness is too serene, wispy, and it takes too much work. It lacks drama – all the stuff that we love in our lives.
In the movie that’s in my head, I continuously swing between the past scenes – reliving old dramas, comparing myself to others, attaching happiness, anger, and regret,…etc.
Or to the future – anticipating the storylines that will include guilt, gratitude, joy, failures, successes, and arguments…etc.
It’s easier to ride on this pendulum that glides between the two tenses. Sometimes I smile, sometimes I’m angry, sometimes I berate or congratulate myself – while effortlessly accepting the emotions and dialogues that the veiled stories bring me. I allow it to continue as it’s the easiest option to embrace.
Mindfulness is tiring work while I concentrate on staying focussed in the present. It can be taxing as I mentally exercise all the senses – both known and unknown, on acknowledging what being present offers.
Stillness is uncomfortable-throwing up access to who I am – the “all” of me that make themselves known from time to time, making up my whole. Some of me can be angry, another version frustrated, or disappointed, or tired, disillusioned, and at times, happy and joyous. The one I give the most energy to is the one that stands up straightest, influencing my present moment in time.
But the more present I am the more control I have of who I present for that time .
The never-ending distractions so close at hand claw at me to jump into a world much noisier. Opinions, arguments, discussions, postings, videos, full of dramas so similar to those floating in my head – comforting me with a sense of familiarity while unconsciously influencing me at the tap of a button.
Mindfulness lacks drama and noise. It can be hard work and frustrating if I allow it to be. But the more I play the more I witness what it offers.
A solution to a puzzle, a storyline, a gift of intimacy, an aroma, the chirping of a bird, an unseen colour to the sky, serenity, a cartoonish wispiness showcasing that there is fun in the world and a brief glimpse of self-understanding – that I am ok.
The more I play with it the more it presents the notion that not all needs to be drama.
Many people have mentioned to me that they’re finding meditation or mindfulness practices difficult. Understandably so as it’s just that – a practice.
I was recently interviewed by Cape Talk asking for my suggestion on how to deal with anxiousness during these uncertain times. Here is a 3-minute interview that includes a breathing technique to not only combat anxiousness but also a technique that can still the mind. https://omny.fm/shows/afternoons-with-pippa-hudson/minute-of-mindfulness-with-gary-hirsonhttps://omny.fm/shows/afternoons-with-pippa-hudson/minute-of-mindfulness-with-gary-hirson
