In the Land of Here and Now by Anne Nayer, msw, Coach Paradise

Everybody loves a puppy and a rainbow. Aside from being soft and cuddly and colorful, each calls us to be fully present. It’s not tomorrow’s rainbow that fills us with awe, and touching an animal (human too – put your hand on your own heart) sucks us back into the pure presence of here and now. It’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at it’s best.

Since I am getting ready to begin  Cultivating Mindfulness –my 12 week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program, I’ve been  shining a light on mindfulness and thinking about: what it means, how cultivating it can help reduce stress, help us be happier in mind, body and spirit and what I keep learning everyday about how different my life is when I am present to what is going on in this very moment – instead of spending my here and now time in the far reaches of my mind as it journeys pendulum-like from past to future and back again – barely brushing this precious moment as it arcs on by.

Mindfulness is about being fully aware of whatever is happening in the present moment, without filters or the lens of judgment. It can be brought to any situation and it consists of cultivating awareness of the mind and body and living in the here and now. It’s a practice that is historically rooted in ancient Buddhist meditative disciplines as well an important aspect of other spiritual traditions.

Mindfulness has expanded beyond its spiritual roots. Physicians are prescribing training in mindfulness practice to help people deal with stress, pain and illness and it’s influence can be seen on medicine, neuroscience, psychology, education and business.

Being mindful means observing, watching, examining. You are not a judge. You are a research scientist and your research subject is yourself and your environment in the present moment. When we do this we stand to gain great insight into our habitual ways of thinking which has the power to alleviate stress and suffering.

We spend a lot of time studying the latest fashions, the stock market, consumer reports, the latest diets and tv shows. We spend practically no time, anywhere in our education or our lives, studying our minds.

When I first started meditating I said, “wow my mind goes a million miles a minute when I meditate” and then I realized that it wasn’t only when I meditated. What I was seeing was my mind in action – as it is all the time. It was just that I had never taken the time to notice before.

I continue to meditate and to notice how busy my mind is. Aiming to be a dispassionate observer I allow the thoughts to move across my mind like clouds passing by. Inevitably, I get caught by a particular thought cloud and follow it for a while until I realize I’m no longer present and return to my breathing or a mantra – to this moment.

I’ve been practicing an informal mindfulness meditation when I am driving around the island. Rather than grumbling and flooding my body with stress hormones as I resist the idea that I may have to idle at one of the many construction delays for 5-10 minutes, I use the time to take in my surroundings and to check in with myself, rather than my phone.

I did a whole body scan meditation at one red light. I noticed that the pain in my knee was gone and that I was hungry. Transforming those delays into mindfulness stops makes my journeys so much more pleasant and the effect ripples outward into other areas of my life.

The wonderful thing about mindfulness, whether its an informal practice where you bring your wholehearted attention to whatever you are doing: swimming, washing dishes, playing an instrument, walking, brushing your teeth or a formal practice where you sit quietly for anywhere from a few minutes to hours, is that through doing it your relationship with your body, your family, friends and strangers, with the world and most importantly with yourself changes in profound and unexpected ways.

We miss so much of our lives because we are thinking about something else: worrying, not paying attention, wishing we were somewhere else, with someone else, were someone else. What could be more important than to wake up, smell the roses and the coffee and mine the riches of each present, precious moment.