Inhale Mindfulness, Exhale MindFULLness

Image Source: DevianArt

At one point during my past job interviewing process, I would cringe when I talked about my multitasking capabilities because that really wasn’t my strong suit. Oh, I could do a lot like chew gum and talk on the phone at the same time while walking, but one day while driving on my way out of town on a business trip, I would have been in a serious car accident had I not snapped out of it. What made me snap out of my stupor? The sudden sight of a cross staked in a makeshift memorial on the median of the highway. I’m sure you understand what that meant.

Oh, how our mind wanders, when our senses drift into a land of what isn’t instead of to a place where 100% of our time should be embracing the present moment. We talk about this all the time, yet so little changes. So, are we basking in mindfulness or mindFULLness? All too often we don’t realize how we’ve drifted into a state of trying to do so much at one time and not accomplishing as much as we think.

Being aware of and attentive to the present moment, with patience, openness, and acceptance is to be mindful. It is the art of “single-tasking.” Tapping into our senses and absorbing our surroundings as we push the pause button of racing thoughts in our head, creates the mindfulness that calms the anxiety building up in our brain like an exploding time bomb.

We can’t concentrate when our brain is busy thinking about too many things at one time, and our mind is overwhelmed by distractions with too much bouncing around in our heads. We are off the rails and bound in an exhausting world of mindFULLness (trying to unsuccessfully multitask). Being mindFULL is like being in a minefield. Frustration rises and our temperament becomes inflamed and short. MindFULLness follows us when we should be sleeping and our minds need to be at rest. Instead, anxiety and stress increase, filling our nights with restlessness and spiritual torments. How terrorizing!

When our mind is shackled by clutter clogging our way of singularly focusing and thinking about what’s happening in our present moment, we have to throw out and mute the background noise that is deafening our hearing and diming our sight. Just remember, we are not a robot. We are human beings. Sensibility is our ability to perceive or feel, while a robot cannot do that. In our stress-induced moments when everything seems to be out-of-control, what are we singlehandedly focusing on, or what is stripping our sensitivity away?

 

Image Credit: Esra Kaya