In order to be mindful, leave your mind out of it!

What does being mindful really mean? It’s about being aware; aware of everything that is going on within and without. When we’re mindful we experience the color of the sky, the green of the grass. We really see the blossoming of nature and smell the fragrance in the air. We feel the essence of another and see their soul within their eyes. We recognize that we’re part of the life energy that is all around us and within all things. This understanding brings about a feeling of quiet joy, a feeling of reverence, a feeling of peace. This is bliss consciousness, and it can be yours!

Let me explain. Our mind has over 60,000 thoughts a day. Each and every day! Imagine the amount of words it takes to simply form that many thoughts. More than 95% of those thoughts are nothing more than repetition. Think about it. Have you ever noticed that when you’re trying to solve a problem you just keep repeating yourself? In the course of the day we are constantly saying the same things to ourselves, over and over again. When your mind is full of noise you don’t have enough silence to hear what is being said let alone come up with a solution to a problem. In order to be mindful, we have to first quiet the mind.

When your mind becomes quiet you are aware of a deep feeling of peace. Yes, there is peace down there, somewhere under those 60,000 thoughts. When your mind is that busy it’s pretty difficult to come up with the solution for a problem. How about trying to create something? That is, if you even feel like being creative. Imagine the creative urge trying to get through the traffic jam of thoughts in your mind?

Again, once your mind has quieted down, you discover a sense of peace. Now you can hear the messages of your inner self and become aware of your true feelings. Perhaps for the first time in our lives we begin to know who we really are. If, like so many of us, you feel that your life is all right, yet you suspect that something is missing, it’s most likely because you aren’t paying enough attention to yourself to even recognize your own needs. If you don’t know what you need how can you possibly satisfy yourself? Before you can get to this place of knowing yourself, you have to quiet your mind...

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© Copyright Lorane Gordon. This article was originally published at our website, SoulfulLiving.com, in Jan. 2002, as part of Soulful Living's "Being Present" Issue.

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