The
focus of my life in recent months has been living mindfully, and while I don’t
always remember to do that, I have learned a few things worth sharing.
The
first is a mindful life is worth the effort. It’s a life where we awaken from
the dream state we’re most often submerged in — the state of having your mind
anywhere but the present moment, locked in thoughts about what you’re going to
do later, about something someone else said, about something you’re stressing
about or angry about. The state of mind where we’re lost in our smartphones and
social media.
It’s
worth the effort, because being awake means we’re not missing life as we walk
through it. Being awake means we’re conscious of what’s going on inside us, as
it happens, and so can make more conscious choices rather than acting on our
impulses all the time.
The
second thing I’ve learned is that we forget. We forget, over and over, to be
awake. And that’s OK. Being mindful is a process of forgetting, and then
remembering. Repeatedly. Just as breathing is a process of exhaling, and then
inhaling, repeatedly.
The
third is that mindful living isn’t just one thing. It’s not just meditation.
Nor is it just focusing on the sensations around you, right now in this moment.
I’ve found mindful living to be a set of very related tools, perhaps all
different ways of getting at the same thing, but each useful in its own regard.
I’ll
share them in this post, and hope that you’ll consider each in turn.
Why You Should Care
Why bother to spend the time learning these tools? Is it just for some ideal of living a peaceful, stress overeating life?
No.
A stress-free life doesn’t exist, but these tools will definitely make you more
prepared to deal with the stresses that will inevitably come your way.
But
just as importantly, they’ll help you overcome the fear of failure and fear of
discomfort that’s holding you back, that’s keeping you from making positive
changes in your life.
These
tools will help you launch your new blog, start a business, write a book, put
out your first music album online, find your purpose in life, become the person
you’ve always wanted to be.
This
is what I’ve found. I’m certain you’ll find these tools just as useful.
The Toolset
This list, of course, is not complete. It’s a collection of things I’ve been learning about, and am still practicing, things I’ve found useful enough to share.
1. Meditation. Meditation is where mindful living starts. And it’s not complicated: you can sit still for even just 1 minute
a day to start with (work up to 3-5 minutes after a week), and turn your
attention to your body and then your breath. Notice when your thoughts wander
from your breath, and gently return to the breath. Repeat until the minute is
up.
2. Be Awake. Meditation is practice for being
awake, which is not being in the dream state (mind wandering into a train of
thought, getting lost in the online world, thinking about past offenses,
stressing about the future, etc.) but being awake to the present, to what is.
Being awake is something you can do throughout the day, all the time, if you
remember. Remembering is the trick.
3. Watch Urges. When I quit smoking in 2005, the
most useful tool I learned was watching my urges to smoke. I would sit there
and watch the urge rise and fall, until it was gone, without acting on it. It
taught me that I am not my urges, that I don’t have to act on my urges, and
this helped me change all my other habits. Watch your urge to check email or
social media, to eat something sweet or fried, to drink alcohol, to watch TV,
to be distracted, to procrastinate. These urges will come and go, and you don’t
have to act on them.
4. Watch Ideals. We all have ideals, all the time.
We have an ideal that our day will go perfectly, that people will be kind and
respectful to us, that we will be perfect, that we’ll ace an exam or important
meeting, that we’ll never fail. Of course, we know from experience that those
ideals are not real, that they don’t come true, that they aren’t realistic. But
we still have them, and they cause our stress and fears and grief over
something/someone we’ve lost. By letting go of ideals, we can let go of our
suffering.
5. Accept People & Life As They Are. When I stopped trying to change a
loved one, and accepted him for who he was, I was able to just be with him and
enjoy my time with him. This acceptance has the same effect for anything you do
— accept a co-worker, a child, a spouse, but also accept a “bad” situation, an
unpleasant feeling, an annoying sound. When we stop trying to fight the way
things are, when we accept what is, we are much more at peace.
6. Let Go of Expectations. This is really the same thing as
the previous two items, but I’ve found it useful nonetheless. It’s useful to
watch your expectations with an upcoming situation, with a new project or
business, and see that it’s not real and that it’s causing you stress and
disappointment. We cause our own pain, and we can relieve it by letting go of
the expectations that are causing it. Toss your expectations into the ocean.
7. Become OK with Discomfort. The fear of discomfort is huge —
it causes people to be stuck in their old bad habits, to not start the business
they want to start, to be stuck in a job they don’t really like, because we
tend to stick to the known and comfortable rather than try something unknown
and uncomfortable. It’s why many people don’t eat vegetables or exercise, why
they eat junk, why they don’t start something new. But we can be OK with
discomfort, with practice. Start with things that are a little uncomfortable,
and keep expanding your comfort zone.
8. Watch Your Resistance. When you try to do something
uncomfortable, or try to give up something you like or are used to, you’ll find
resistance. But you can just watch the resistance, and be curious about it.
Watch your resistance to things that annoy you — a loud sound that interrupts
your concentration, for example. It’s not the sound that’s the problem, it’s
your resistance to the sound. The same is true of resistance to food we don’t like,
to being too cold or hot, to being hungry. The problem isn’t the sensation of
the food, cold, heat or hunger — it’s our resistance to them. Watch the
resistance, and feel it melt.
9. Be Curious. Too often we are stuck in our
ways, and think we know how things should be, how people are. Instead, be
curious. Find out. Experiment. Let go of what you think you know. When you
start a new project or venture, if you feel the fear of failure, instead of
thinking, “Oh no, I’m going to fail” or “Oh no, I don’t know how this will turn
out”, try thinking, “Let’s see. Let’s find out.” And then there isn’t the fear
of failure, but the joy of being curious and finding out. Learn to be OK with
not knowing.
10. Be Grateful. We complain about everything. But
life is a miracle. Find something to be grateful about in everything you do. Be
grateful when you’re doing a new habit, and you’ll stick to it longer. Be grateful
when you’re with someone, and you’ll be happier with them. Life is amazing, if
you learn to appreciate it.
11. Let Go of Control. We often think we control things,
but that’s only an illusion. Our obsession with organization and goals and
productivity, for example, are rooted in the illusion that we can control life.
But life is uncontrollable, and just when we think we have things under
control, something unexpected comes up to disrupt everything. And then we’re
frustrated because things didn’t go the way we wanted. Instead, practice letting go of control, and learn to
flow.
12. Be Compassionate. This sounds trite, but compassion
for others can change the way you feel about the world, on a day-to-day basis.
And compassion for yourself is life-changing. These two things need
remembering, though, so mindful living is about remembering to be compassionate
after you forget.
The Practice
OK, that seems like a lot to digest and remember, right?
Well,
there’s hope. I often forget all of this stuff, but then I remember, and say,
“Ah, I was doing it again!” And then I practice again.
And
then I forget, but I reflect, and I learn, and I practice again.
This
is the process of learning mindfulness. It’s forgetting, and then remembering,
again and again.
And
it’s worth remembering, again and again.
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