“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).”

How many times do we think – Mindfulness – yeah, it’s that zen practice thingy that those new age geeks do… ? You’re thinking that, right?

Wrong

Actually, all it is, is bringing your attention into focusing what is happening right NOW. having a shitty day? Yeah, kids running riot, homeschooling during lockdown driving you to potential drink, washing machine broke, dog eaten something it shouldn’t and has thrown up all over… and that was just the morning right?

But stop a moment.
Think about what you are doing RIGHT NOW… you are reading this article, what can you hear outside? how do you feel RIGHT NOW? At this second in time, read the word time again – what is happening right now ? Is it still happening now?

As I sit here typing I can hear the wind whistling outside along with the rain. The rain is here for the full day.. but the wind gust I heard a few seconds ago, that has already passed. So I am concentrating on the now, right here, right now. the house is a little cool at the moment, but I have a jumper on so I don’t feel it much. I can hear the weather outside but it isn’t affecting me right NOW. Later I will have to light the wood burner, before it drops too cold. I will have to drag my youngest up into the office to do the rest of his lockdown school work for the day; he’s trying to avoid it. The peaceful calm that is happening right now will change. But that is the nature of things, that is time. I will watch it now, be mindful of it now, knowing it will change and in amongst all those changes, I will change too, and I will continue to observe, to watch and not try to hold on… because all things pass and there is a poetic beauty in everything.