About five years ago, I was riding the Metro subway home from a meeting in D.C. I must have been engrossed in the ideas discussed at the meeting because somehow I managed to get on the wrong subway line. After a long time of reading the newspaper, oblivious to my surroundings, I finally noticed I was in the wrong place and got off the train. Even worse, someone stole my purse before I left that train. Suddenly, I found myself with no keys. Luckily, I had my cell phone in my hand. I called my husband to ask him to pick me up and drive us over to my car. I eventually got the purse back from Metro's lost and found office, but without my cash and a few other things. This brief interlude of not paying attention cost me quite a bit in money, time and hassle.
We all have days when we make mistakes and miss important things due to distractions and not being mindful. I'm as guilty as anyone else. Mindfulness is feeling and observing all the sensations that are happening with a neutral, nonjudgmental attitude. It's resting fully in the present moment. Going on vacations and visiting new places makes us mindful. Everything is different and novel, so we naturally observe with a curious and attentive mind.
Athletes, dancers and musicians sometimes experience extreme mindfulness when they are competing or performing. They might call it peak concentration or being in the zone. I know I experienced this often in gymnastics. Running and launching your whole body at full speed toward a solid vaulting horse tends to make you pay full attention! No room for thoughts of anything else. I also found myself naturally mindful when I went ballroom dancing. Nothing mattered but feeling the dance and carefully listening to all the nuances of the music and my partner's cues. When have you experienced this in your own life?
I love watching my son build things with Legos, happily humming and singing fragments of songs while he works. He's concentrating and fully absorbed.
What keeps us from being mindful? Often, we feel we must accomplish many things at once. It's hard to set priorities, so we end up multitasking. Our modern, digitized world provides a nonstop, relentless flow of distractions in the form of emails, texts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other apps. It's difficult to resist the temptation to respond to every beep and ring.
Other times we are so overwhelmed by negative emotions, or so engrossed in thoughts about the past or plans for the future, that we fail to notice what's happening right now. Did you ever arrive home after your daily commute with no distinct memory of how it happened? Did you ever go to an event that would normally make you feel happy or excited, but instead you felt nothing because you couldn't get your mind off your to-do list or your future plans?
Being distracted can cause many problems: chronic lateness, irritability, forgetfulness, locking your keys in your car, running out of gas, missing appointments that were carefully marked on your calendar, or burning the rice when you are hungry for dinner. In a worst case scenario, distractions can bring horrible or even fatal consequences through bad driving, medical errors or falls.
In contrast, when we are mindful, we easily remember important things, stay on task, and notice small things that are out of place or unusual. Mindfulness helps us to stay organized and complete all the tasks that we start. More importantly, it helps us to better notice the emotions and subtle reactions in other people as we interact with them. That can be transformative for relationships. I know I'm more likely to be compassionate and kind toward my kids and my husband after I have done a mindful practice like yoga or meditation.
New medical research shows mindfulness can make us physically and mentally healthier, sometimes solving medical issues like hypertension, insomnia, anxiety, depression and pain. I know that yoga and meditation have helped me reduce stress and relieve my persistent back pain and insomnia.
Since I'm a total sucker for making lists, I'll leave you with this list of ideas to help you bring more mindfulness into your life:
1. Try yoga or meditation.
2. Schedule a massage, a haircut or a pedicure, and pay careful attention to the tactile sensations.
3. Eat something you are very familiar with, but eat with your eyes closed. No distractions, phones, reading or TV. What's something new you notice about this food?
4. Really listen to a piece of music without doing anything else. Get lost in the lyrics and the melody.
5. Pick up a coloring book for adults. Get absorbed in the colors and the task of drawing.
6. Take a mindful nature walk. Observe the seasonal changes. See how many different bird sounds you can count. Listen to your footsteps and the sound of your breath as you walk.
7. Have coffee or dinner with a friend or family member, and really pay attention to their face, their words, their voice. Make some fond memories.
8. Immerse yourself in something new: Try a vacation, a place you haven't seen before, a food you have never eaten before, or a sport you haven't played before.
9. Smell the world in new ways. Wander through a familiar place and try to identify smells that you may have overlooked before. You could try this in a grocery store or while you are on a bike ride or a hike.
We all have days when we make mistakes and miss important things due to distractions and not being mindful. I'm as guilty as anyone else. Mindfulness is feeling and observing all the sensations that are happening with a neutral, nonjudgmental attitude. It's resting fully in the present moment. Going on vacations and visiting new places makes us mindful. Everything is different and novel, so we naturally observe with a curious and attentive mind.
Athletes, dancers and musicians sometimes experience extreme mindfulness when they are competing or performing. They might call it peak concentration or being in the zone. I know I experienced this often in gymnastics. Running and launching your whole body at full speed toward a solid vaulting horse tends to make you pay full attention! No room for thoughts of anything else. I also found myself naturally mindful when I went ballroom dancing. Nothing mattered but feeling the dance and carefully listening to all the nuances of the music and my partner's cues. When have you experienced this in your own life?
I love watching my son build things with Legos, happily humming and singing fragments of songs while he works. He's concentrating and fully absorbed.
What keeps us from being mindful? Often, we feel we must accomplish many things at once. It's hard to set priorities, so we end up multitasking. Our modern, digitized world provides a nonstop, relentless flow of distractions in the form of emails, texts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other apps. It's difficult to resist the temptation to respond to every beep and ring.
Other times we are so overwhelmed by negative emotions, or so engrossed in thoughts about the past or plans for the future, that we fail to notice what's happening right now. Did you ever arrive home after your daily commute with no distinct memory of how it happened? Did you ever go to an event that would normally make you feel happy or excited, but instead you felt nothing because you couldn't get your mind off your to-do list or your future plans?
Being distracted can cause many problems: chronic lateness, irritability, forgetfulness, locking your keys in your car, running out of gas, missing appointments that were carefully marked on your calendar, or burning the rice when you are hungry for dinner. In a worst case scenario, distractions can bring horrible or even fatal consequences through bad driving, medical errors or falls.
In contrast, when we are mindful, we easily remember important things, stay on task, and notice small things that are out of place or unusual. Mindfulness helps us to stay organized and complete all the tasks that we start. More importantly, it helps us to better notice the emotions and subtle reactions in other people as we interact with them. That can be transformative for relationships. I know I'm more likely to be compassionate and kind toward my kids and my husband after I have done a mindful practice like yoga or meditation.
New medical research shows mindfulness can make us physically and mentally healthier, sometimes solving medical issues like hypertension, insomnia, anxiety, depression and pain. I know that yoga and meditation have helped me reduce stress and relieve my persistent back pain and insomnia.
Since I'm a total sucker for making lists, I'll leave you with this list of ideas to help you bring more mindfulness into your life:
1. Try yoga or meditation.
2. Schedule a massage, a haircut or a pedicure, and pay careful attention to the tactile sensations.
3. Eat something you are very familiar with, but eat with your eyes closed. No distractions, phones, reading or TV. What's something new you notice about this food?
4. Really listen to a piece of music without doing anything else. Get lost in the lyrics and the melody.
5. Pick up a coloring book for adults. Get absorbed in the colors and the task of drawing.
6. Take a mindful nature walk. Observe the seasonal changes. See how many different bird sounds you can count. Listen to your footsteps and the sound of your breath as you walk.
7. Have coffee or dinner with a friend or family member, and really pay attention to their face, their words, their voice. Make some fond memories.
8. Immerse yourself in something new: Try a vacation, a place you haven't seen before, a food you have never eaten before, or a sport you haven't played before.
9. Smell the world in new ways. Wander through a familiar place and try to identify smells that you may have overlooked before. You could try this in a grocery store or while you are on a bike ride or a hike.