Have you ever been driving your car and thought to yourself, I can’t remember driving through the last 2 suburbs? Or have you been eating something and reached down for another piece and it’s all gone? This occurs when we fall out of awareness and go into autopilot mode. We have 80-90,000 thoughts a day – that are mostly distracting and no about what is occurring in the here and now. Our brains are remarkable in that we can automate so many things. Typing while eating with one hand, reading whilst drinking a cup of coffee. Talking on a mobile whilst walking. Driving a manual car whilst changing radio stations. These are just some examples of the many ways in which our brains automate. There are so many tasks we can complete without our REALLY being aware and alert. The trap lies in when we are automating most of our activities and tasks, and are unaware of what is happening to a deep degree. We are just skimming the surface and not really living life deeply. If we are doing three things simultaneously, and our mind is scattering around elsewhere, then we have 100% of our awareness divide up into little portions, nothing really being experienced and lived fully.
Add to this that most of the time we charge for our days unaware of what we are experiencing, with our minds caught up projecting back into the past or forward into the future. What is happening in the present moment is completely missed as we career around anywhere but in the moment. The essence of being mindful is about having present moment awareness and absorbing what is happening at each moment in time. It’s about simply observing our thoughts and not getting caught up in them. It’s about attending to whatever activity we are engaged in, with all our attention.
When we are mindful and are in the moment we truly experience the texture of our lives. We’re more productive, more self-aware and happier. There are a few key ways in which we can be more mindful. We gain clarity, calm and creativity when we are mindful and present.
Here are some ways in which to become more present…
This is an excerpt from our 7 Day Zen Course, and we would like to offer you 35% off this course as a reader of our daily Letters! It’s a beautiful course on the basics of Zen philosophy and some practical ways to implement this ancient knowledge into your modern life. I created it as I found so many students thinking that Zen was about being minimal in their interior design, and it so much richer and more profound than that, and this course I hope to wet your appetite…at the end of the course we have a large Reading List and list of Zen teachers and recommended resources also for your potential ongoing journey.
Simply click this link HERE and enter this code “Zen_Course” for your discount.
Sent with love,
Jac x