Mindful

In school few selected were told to mind the class, while most of us were minded! How I envied the monitor who was designated the duty to mind. But now with all the grey that shines on my crown, the matter of minding others is looked upon as almost unwarranted interference, while minding our own beings is still the hottest and the most sort after coaching idea. Well, this mindfulness is quite to the contrary.

Here, though I want to talk about minding ourselves, I talk about being distracted and enjoying the distractions too. So, as I write about mindfulness, my monkey mind wants me to write mindlessly, on the bliss of distractions.

With all my teaching skills and conforming nature to codes of ethics, I refuse to tow the line to be always in the Now, just because it has umpteen merits, and has done wonders for many. Let me share my escapades with mind, before I researched on the merits of being mindful.

‘Hope you do not mind?’ is normally said by the dearest of your friend innocently, knowing that she has hurt you where it hurts the most. Something as spiteful as having slept with your boyfriend.

‘No worries, I do not have a mind, sweetheart’, I say much as I would want to pull my hair or hers’. The sugar-coated answer would be to make little of the hurt and pass it away as if it did not matter. Though the fact is, it never felt worse at being cheated. I realised I had lost it all — mind, heart and spirit- best friend and boyfriend. The fight to reclaim such a boyfriend would not be worth anyways.

Let me admit, and all of us, who dare to admit, will admit, our dearest memories are of secrets we have never revealed. These are escapades in our mundane life. Most of the time they are fantasies. These are those images and instances that bring a smile and a twinkle in the eyes. (By the way, I have learned to smile from my eyes in these pandemic times) If the onlooker raises an eyebrow to question, at the unusual delight on your face, you deem best to brush it away with saying, ‘Nothing’. While, that nothing means, ‘Mind your own business’!

I would never give away such mindless memories and would mind them and protect them and keep them always with me. My God, mindful means being in the present moment! How dreary life with would be without my fantasies, my sweet memories, some real, others cooked up in my day dreaming, providing me a break from the virtuous life I lead.

But what if I were stuck with a horrific memory of the yesterdays. It would spoil my todays again and again, and that would be disastrous. So, we have to be mindful of what memory we want to carry, and we must erase all self-sabotage images. Any image that fosters love, should live in the mind. And mind can be full of them.

Letting the mind wander indeed has its merits, it is good for the author, and all with creative streaks. The dreamer alone can dream. Dreams are work for all in the creative field. For all of us too, I guess, for what I can dream I can manifest in reality

So how can it be said that meditation and the being in the NOW is the ultimate formula to living a life that is fulfilled? The best thing of being a social animal, is that the science with all its exactness fails when applied to us, homo sapiens. Being mindful is to love yourself, love others, love animals, properties; love and respect time and all misfortunes and blunders as lessons from the past, and let bygones be bygones. So unless you are dreaming you need to be mindful!

Being mindful in this context is, to be aware of whatever you are doing and to love doing it. It means to put your heart and soul in it. If we do work with mindfulness, we will indeed be able to accomplish much, much more than we do without it. With concentration, understanding and learning and for that matter anything you do, you will be able to finish the tasks you might have set for yourself for the day. Your time management would soar due to your concentration at the task in hand. If your todays are well spent, you have indeed made an investment for your tomorrows to be fulfilled.