One fine ay, lazing around on the couch, the inspiring and unique mental challenge of Mindfulness by Ask Rahat, set the perfect tone of the article and the thinking rolling.
The mind was wandering with a cloud of thoughts, difficult to make it stop at one point in time. Thinking about the grass which is greener on the other end.
At the other corner of the house, the little child was gleefully playful with the mobile. Totally engrossed, with eyes wide open seemingly unaware of the surroundings and oblivious to the fact of what was coming in for him.
After a while, all hell broke loose when the mobile stopped working in its usual way, the child was open to a bountiful of yelling and scolding. Blaming the child back and for all of it. Phew, the engrossed, gleeful child suddenly turned remorse, crying bitterly, continuously trying to say something, but none ready to listen.
After two days, the realization dawns that the settings of the mobile have been changed uniformly all over. It was an update from the mobile company. And then the question popped up by the child “I was saying I was just playing and didn’t do anything”. You didn’t try to listen to me. You always do that”. The determining question and the yearning for an answer set the ball of thoughts rolling, zooming in and out.
· Are we Judgemental at the drop of the hat?
· Do we lose our cool and patience unceremoniously?
· Do we hold on to things and not let it go off?
· Are we too rigid?
· Inflexible in our thoughts?
· Why do we always do that?
And then a rush of incidences popped up the mind, and also the imminent danger of being swept away by our actions.
Across our lives, ‘living at the moment’ seems to be taking a backseat, and ‘striving’ seems to be the mantra. Striving to be a superhero, achieving feats of multi-tasking, carrying more than can be held with both the hands.
The child lives in the moment and that is mindfulness. As an 8-year-old child describes when asked what makes you wake up early in the morning. It is the only time I find the cool air and I want that. Is this not mindfulness? The morning is about the cool air one can breathe and not about getting the chores done, to rush for another set of activities. The passion and fun enthralling around the joy of cleaning their chair, the energy of scrubbing, splashing water to its sparkling beauty, defying the scorching heat in the balcony and their favorite shows on the TV, defines living for the moment in its simple and purest form. The trust and the confidence ensued in the process, leads them to lead for bigger challenges in life.
It is all about concentration, co-operation, movement, relaxation and much more. The child has given the nod to slip through things, to accept not to know things, not know answers and accept the feeling of giving up.
The vicious set of activities does not make us stop for the moment, at the moment, to live the moment.
The elusive response coming from the child “I cannot close my eyes as I might doze off or daydream defines the mindfulness in its simple form. The child’s responses and thoughts make us aware of things and our perspective towards it.
It’s the practice of mindfulness in its simple form leading them to handle stark realities of life later.
I realized Mindfulness is not something exhaustive but rather a simple act of living in the moment and enjoying it minute by minute.
It is always about the time for our children to grow, to learn and discover their potential. This time around it was time for grownups to uncover, discover and learn. It was the child and the seeming child-like situation which makes everybody go for the extra mile.
Stop, listen and live the moment. The colorful birds on the window sill, the hues of the sunset, the breezy cool winds of the morning, the aroma of the kitchen has always been there. It is the perspective that has changed.
And then it was a cloudy evening, with a splutter of lightening. The breeze was cool and windy. The raindrops falling on the strands of the hair. Sitting in solitude, experiencing the wind blowing on the face, minute by minute, I realized this is living by the moment. This is Mindfulness. Non-judgmental, calm, and a fresh perspective. The grass can be greener our end too.