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Fences and Gates

I really didn’t want to hear the BBC’s answer to their question —  does mindfulness really improve our health? — unless it was affirmative.  I’ve kinda sorta been trying different mindfulness exercises since January.  It’s a bummer to have someone pee in your Cheerios about something that is working for you.

The article makes a fair point — there hasn’t been enough (or long enough) research done even though anecdotal evidence looks interesting.  I’m all for more research.

This is what mindfulness does (for me): it reminds me to exist in the present.  Some of the things I do — such as now writing my worry list — helps me compartmentalize the past and future so they don’t cover up the present.  That’s all they are: fences.  And when I meditate before working, that’s a gate.  I open the door and step through it and spend at least five minutes in the present moment, fully focused on the present moment, which is longer than I spent on the present moment before I started keeping lists and deep breathing.

It has been interesting to learn about myself.  I think of myself as a nostalgic person, always trying to hold onto the past.  But I’ve noticed that I spend a lot more time worrying about the future.  Like deep into the future; not worrying about upcoming events but spending hours thinking about things ridiculously far off in the distance.  Like decades down the road.

It has been eye-opening to remind myself that the world decades down the road isn’t like the world I’m living in now.  There will be global changes, societal changes, and some of the things I worry about may be a moot point because those events won’t be taking place in the same world I’m living in now.

So I’m grateful for those fences and gates.

3 comments

1 Lori Lavender Luz { 06.24.18 at 2:50 pm }

Thank you for writing this. Stuff I need to remember.

2 Cristy { 06.24.18 at 8:36 pm }

I just hit a point where I need to meditate again on a regular basis. For me, I don’t care what that there’s a lack of data or that we fully understand the mechanisms behind mindfulness meditation. It works for me, allowing me to manage my anxiety (medication doesn’t work for me). It may be an N of one, but that enough.

3 Shannon Busby { 06.25.18 at 5:47 pm }

Thank you for writing. I love meditation and the truth about being mindful. For me, mindfulness allows me to experience the beautiful, good, joyful and kind in the moment. This experiencing of goodness in its full force and pure essence actually heals me, adds to my being and character and literally feeds and nourishes me. On the other side of that, being completely mindful and present during those times of pain, sadness, loss, betrayal, anger, regret…allows those other parts of me to protect my heart and my mind and my spirit from being stained and damaged. In being mindful during those times and gracefully moving through the dark stuff and not letting it penetrate too deeply lets one in all pure honesty, feel the dark and heavy stuff support it with the strong stuff and heal it with the good stuff. I experienced that today as we met with the family of a dear friend of ours who passed away. The sadness and regret just pummeled me like the rain that fell shamelessly earlier in this afternoon. He was 80+ years old and loved to sing. As a vocalist, he would sing with me in church. We had a plan, he and I, for me to come and sing for the residents where he lived in a care facility. I was never able to get it scheduled or make it happen…of course he would not punish me for this…he was too kind and forgiving. But I sobbed all the way home, the words ‘I’m sorry’, flowing freely in honest presence from my whole heart, from one living soul to another. I am needing to meditate now and be mindful and journal all of this…thank you for listening…

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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