Timothy LongWe can always benefit by being reminded to return to a state of mindfulness; to return to our wholeness and connection to all life. With so many advances of modern living, we have become disengaged from living from our optimal design.
To receive the many treasures of living a mindful life, we don’t need a whole new slew of mindfulness techniques and methods. Although, we may welcome being reminded that our natural healthy state of mind is naturally mindful, and how to get back to it.
Being mindful is about being aware; being consciously attuned to all aspects of our lives, which includes all life in and around us.
Unfortunately, most all of us are imprinted and conditioned from birth to separate from our natural, whole state of mind. Here are some basics of how to live a mindful life, that will lead to peace and clarity; unleashing your power to live a miraculous and magnificent life.
Living a mindful life
- Let’s begin with the waking state. The moment you are becoming aware that you are awake, allow yourself to stay between worlds for a moment. Relish this moment. Become aware of your breath, your fingers and toes, your legs and arms, your face, your skin, all of you. Become aware slowly of your ears, the sounds near and far. Tune into the sound of your own breathing, perhaps the sound of the person breathing next to you, or your pet nearby. Become aware of all your senses, all you are sensing.
- Open your eyes slowly. What can you notice? What subtleties? See and hear and feel, as if for the very first time. In fact, this is how I am suggesting we live all of our lives. In this state of mind we want to also be aware of the stillness, the space between every sound, thought, breath, object, feeling. Can you also be aware of pure Presence, and the Living Spirit of everything? How about the souls of people, your pets, the living energy in the plants and trees? Are you aware of souls that are not in bodies, ancestors visiting, perhaps angels and guides? You may have decided you don’t believe in such things, but how did you decide this? Have you the courage to experiment with your own life and mind to find out what is really true for you?
I have trained myself to feel and sense my body from head to toe, through daily practice. I focus on all energies and sensations in my body – all day long, wherever I am, whatever I am doing, whomever I am talking to. I do this from waking to falling asleep, and even in half-awake states in the middle of the night. I include the time-less teaching of keeping focus on the breath.
Ideas to experiment with your life, become mindful and live in mindfulness:
- Call yourself back into mindful consciousness at all times.
- Notice your breath, feel every subtle aspect of your breathing.
- Feel the sensation of every single part of your body, including the connection to all other parts, and all you are physically connected to.
- See every nuance, every little and big thing you possibly can see, really see; notice all kinds of subtleties you usual don’t notice. Go back and forth between the micro and the macro.
- Listen for, look for, notice the space in, around, underneath and behind every sound, sight and thought; feel it, sense it. Especially take notice of the silence between sounds, and the space between things.
- Feel, sense, inner focus on the whole energy in all experiences; become aware of Source Energy; of the stillness and source that all arises from and falls back into.
To really know and experience what is being suggested here, you need to be willing to experiment with your own life. If you find it difficult to begin or stay with somatic practices of mindfulness, inner focusing and meditation, check out the many books, podcasts, teachers and workshops in the world that are available to assist you.
One thing I will promise you, if you embrace mindfulness your life will move into a magnificent place.
Take the challenge to find out why I am claiming that mindfulness practices will cause tremendous positive healing and transformation on all levels of your life. If you get it intellectually, great, now go about living it in your body. If you are living it, you already know that it is forever part of life, and you would not choose to live life in any other way!