I asked Midjourney for a middle-aged woman with a Galgo and that's not that bad, although so far no middle-aged woman I've gotten, to date, is smiling, which is telling. And I have to ask for middle-aged, otherwise I get a young woman looking beautiful, alluring, or something other than frumpy and, well . . . middle-aged. BUT I DIGRESS.
If you look at my daily life, you'll be able to tell if I'm doing my mindfulness practices regularly. And ditto for you.
Are You Walking Your Walks?
Something that regular mindfulness practice does is reveals your hypocrisy. Yay! Who wants some of that?!
It's difficult to peer into your experience and reflect on it and NOT be confronted with your own poor decisions and actions. And by poor, I mean, selfish, greedy, rude . . . you know, all that human stuff. And this includes thoughts that are unkind.
You want to be a certain kind of person and you regularly fall short.
And this is all okay. It's why we practice. We want to get to know what's happening inside us and observe as we create emotions that seemed inevitable but don't have to be. And we watch as we torment ourselves with thoughts and images from the past (or from social media). There's another way, we know there is, and yet, we still do it to ourselves.
Practice as the Antidote
If I'm stuck in a thought-loop, it usually means I'm not practicing enough. My brain isn't predicting that I can immediately detect the rumination and do something about it.
If I'm skipping workouts or not eating well or saying yes to that glass of prosecco or getting antsy or testy, it's probably because I'm not practicing enough.
So much is laid bare when you practice.
Who Do You Really Want To Be?
If you're fine with every aspect of your life and you don't think there's something more or you could be doing things in a better way for yourself and those around you, mindfulness isn't for you. If you're not curious about who else you could be and how else you could be, there's no use taking on something that will likely challenge who you think you are.
But if you do go on a journey of greater awareness, you're eventually going to be faced with important questions about what you do for a living, who you spend your time with, how you spend your time, what you consume (and I'm including social media and the news), and how you relate with yourself and others.
It's not for the faint of heart, and sometimes what you discover is too painful so you stop practicing. Or what you need to do becomes crystal clear but you don't want to do it. So you stop practicing.
If you want to get a glimpse of your experience of being you, not necessarily to learn how to focus or where your emotions come from, but to simply get a glimpse, take a few minutes to do the following practice.
Notice if you're thinking the whole time, or talking to yourself. If you are, return to allowing and observing your experience, and don't be hard on yourself.
If you're all: I don't get it, so what? Be curious. Keep doing it, without the guidance. Just. Sit. Or stand, in silence, and watch your life. It's the first step toward a new way of being.
Ask me anything!
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