Mindfulness, awareness – simply noticing what is happening within and around us in any moment can help us to accept more, judge less (or less harshly) and appreciate the impermanence of so many things and situations: Consider universal experiences of pain, emotions, thoughts, and life’s challenges.
Noticing impermanence resolves so many things. It has the potential to diminish boredom, strong or unpleasant emotions, and even pain. Once we realize everything that arises also passes away – and get really interested in observing what is here, now – we can notice the ‘change-iness’ of it all. “This, too, shall pass away.” Every passion, every longing, every bit of pride or dread… these will come and go. Every possession, relationship, every bit of our knowing and feeling – they will pass, too. We are, and everything is, ‘born dying’ in a sense. At the cellular and energetic levels, also being transformed – this is life.
Mindfulness training (learning to notice with friendliness, free of reaction or manipulation) helps to increase contentment and reduce stress, partly by inserting a ‘mindful gap’ between the sensation or emotion and a reaction or response. Everything that we deal with is in this immediate and present moment. “Right now, it’s like this.” There is no other day than this day. All our past days have come and gone. We carry memories of and opinions about them as we await our futures. Our memories and opinions of them are sure to change over time.
Even fresh memories can be wildly inaccurate, and intelligent people can be fickle. Often, we
think we know what’s happened, yet something else entirely is true or ‘also true’. The past is
done… over and gone – kaput! We have only this present moment to decide how to navigate
the choices that arise. With so many possibilities regarding what to think, feel, and say about it all, can we ‘take a beat’ to notice what we notice? Then, we can tell a story that is kinder, more compassionate and open. Life can be challenging enough without adding bitterness, blame, disdain, or hatred. Life gets better with present moment awareness, sprinkled with kindness!
May you be safe, well, and happy
