Monday, October 3, 2011

Mindfulness Exercises: Every Time the Phone Rings


I haven’t posted in two weeks because we were on vacation last week.  The exercise from two weeks ago was to take three mindful breaths every time the phone rings.

I did this exercise for the first few days and it was good.  But then we went on vacation and I totally forgot about it.  Even when we got back, I couldn’t really get back into it.  So this week’s lesson isn’t about the exercise itself.  It’s about the way that even a practice built up over several months can fall apart with the slightest deviation.

Our habits of mindlessness and living blindly have been built up over a lifetime.  They’re deeply ingrained in our psyches.  The way we think, the way our mind wanders, the way we sleepwalk through a day of errands and chores: all of these things are a part of who we are.  It takes a very big effort to change those patterns.  And you will inevitably have setbacks.  That’s just the way it is.

But that’s the great thing about the commitment I made to post about my experience.  Because here I am, reminded again that I want to be mindful.  So I’ll start over this week and try harder.  And I hope you will too!

This week’s exercise is: “Loving Touch: Use loving hands and a loving touch, even with inanimate objects.”

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