Recently I was talking with a client whom was sharing with me how little time they had to do the things they wanted to. I listened to them tell me their story. After a while, I asked them where their time was going. They couldn’t answer that question succinctly. I wasn’t surprised as it wasn’t that long ago that I was in a similar situation. However, my situation was more like groundhog day.
Yes, you know – the alarm goes off, you roll over only to find it going off a few minutes later and you then realise you are going to be late for work. You quickly jump in the shower, grab some toast or end up grabbing something on the way to work. Then when you get to work, it appears to be same thing that was going on yesterday? You are not alone! Some people even say the majority of us live on automatic pilot for the majority of our lives!
So how did I change that? I started practising mindfulness and mindfulness is about paying attention. Yes – I started little by little to pay attention to what I was paying attention to.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness in everyday life is the ultimate challenge and practice. It is a way of being, of seeing, of tapping into the full range of our humanity – often seen in playful children fully experiencing life in the here and now. Mindfulness is described by Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994) –
“as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally” (p.4), and then in 2005 as “moment-to-moment, non-judgemental awareness, cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, that is in the present-moment, and as non-reactively, as non-judgementally, and as openheartedly as possibly.” (p.108).
Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein (2010) report
“in Sanskrit, it’s known as smrti, from the root word smr, meaning “to remember” and in Pali, the language of the earliest Buddhist scriptures, it’s known as sati (mindfulness)” (p.15).
What Are You Paying Attention To?
Throughout your day, week and month – what are you paying attention to? Yes truly – do you know?
More and more my attention is focused on controlling the controllables, my financial situation, the things I am grateful for and what I want to create in my world. Yes, I still slip up and spend too much time on social media occasionally. However, when that happens, I remember I can make different choices next time.
Over to You…
Is it time to start paying attention to what you are paying attention to? Remember – you can track that in your own world as well! Do you have any questions? If so, feel free to let us know below 🙂
If you are ready to reclaim your courage and take the next step towards freedom and opening your heart, why not join our Toolkit?
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