Beautiful Practice of Mindfulness

Being mindful means to do any activity fully conscious of yourself and of the activity itself. Simply put, it means to consciously live in the present moment.

Although many people don’t consider it as strictly spiritual, mindfulness indeed is a purely divine practice. It leads you to your True nature, while dissolving your inner conflicts softly and almost imperceptibly. Moreover, every conscious moment in the Now will gradually accumulate and make your whole life easier and abate or even prevent challenges.

When mindfulness becomes your intrinsic way of living, you will enjoy every task, you will become light and, in a strange way, even transparent. You will start sensing some inexplicable joy and deep inner peace . You will feel love more and more both to yourself and people around you.

Pure consciousness in everyday life will enable you to do any task perfectly. All your relationships will gradually improve in various subtle ways. You will be at perfect harmony with the world; your body will move lightly and flawlessly; your mind will function impeccably whenever needed, and all your actions will be done in the most effective way. Thus, if you drop a thing or stumble upon something unexpectedly, it is a clear message from your divine core: awaken, be present, feel your Heart!

How to practice mindfulness? In short: you should try to be aware of every emotion, thought, every motion of your body, sensation, texture, sound, taste and smell. From time to time pause and direct attention to your sense of self. Sustain that state of self-awareness during every activity.

For example, when you are drinking, first be mindful of bringing the cup or glass full of liquid to your mouth. Sense its weight, determine how cool or hot the cup is. Smell the coffee or tea deeply before the act of drinking. Feel the liquid in your mouth: its taste, its passage down your throat. Experience fully all subsequent motions of your hand, mouth, tongue, together with all related bodily sensations. Be in the Now, while maintaining the awareness of your own presence.

“Don't drink your tea like someone who gulps down a cup of coffee during a work break. Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves-slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life. Don't be attached to the future. Don't worry about things you have to do.” - Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Miracle of Mindfulness"

Anything that distracts you, or pulls you out of mindfulness, you should accept as such, and not react to it at all (unless you are threatened somehow). Then continue with the activity, being fully conscious of it and of yourself simultaneously. Also, if you are in an appropriate situation, you could reintegrate the distracting mind content or your reaction to an outer distraction by using one of the traditional psychological or spiritual techniques. For this purpose, I would also recommend applying some of the basic techniques of the innovative Reintegration System (website: www.re-integration.com ).

However, steady practice of mindfulness can also produce some side-effects. They are not common to all practitioners, but it is wise to be prepared for them. Let me elaborate more on that.

Regular practice of living consciously in Here and Now will inevitably reintegrate many portions of negative energy in your psyche, layer by layer. As your practice goes on, many repressed traumas, fears, or other unpleasant elements of your personality will be revealed, just as they have been exposed to a strong, unexpected light. They will express themselves or try to hide again. Therefore, this process will probably lead you to occasional and surprising bursts of anger, sorrow, pain, or fear. You may experience some strange and unexpected phenomena within your body, such as vibrating, tingling or itching sensations, flu-like or allergy-like symptoms, occasional heart palpitations and fluttering, dizziness, etc. You could even be involved in interactions with some people you consider adverse or annoying, and these interactions may ignite your negative reactions. All of this will be just effects of the process of re-surfacing repressed elements of personality. They are reintegrating themselves into the wholeness of our being.

Nevertheless, you may not experience these side-effects at all. Yet, if you do, don’t be discouraged, as there is no real reason for worry. Moreover, despite these possible obstacles, you must be persistent with your practice. Mindfulness is vital to your spiritual growth and your whole life as well.

One more thing: I would strongly recommend practicing regular meditation sittings alongside mindfulness. They are mutually supportive and practicing both of them could dramatically improve your everyday life.

May you find peace and joy in every moment of your life. :-)