I am a mindfulness teacher, and yet…I am still learning to be mindful. I was caught off guard two days ago during a moment with my children. We were at a nature preserve and they were playing at a free-play mud-kitchen type set-up. They were sharing, playing together and truly enjoying themselves….and yet I found myself growing restless. My internal dialogue was “hurry up”, “c’mon, let’s go”, “let’s go find the next thing” “I’m bored” AND it was very cool that I was fully aware of these urges to live on fast forward.
It dawned on me in that moment (thankfully), that this moment was perfect just as it was. Sure, there are times that we must hurry children along…but this was not one of them. In this moment, we had no where else to be. In this moment, everyone was content. In this moment, everything was at peace.
Fast forward to today: we were visiting a Japanese Tea Garden (which was stunningly beautiful) and we came upon a waterfall. Two things I am teaching the girls is to notice and point out the different colors they see in nature and to close their eyes and “just listen”. Here is a pic of them practicing mindfulness of sound at a waterfall.
I am so grateful that I have these mindfulness teachers in my life! Take some time right now, in just this one moment and take a deep breathe, exhale slowly. Just this moment is all that exists. There is no need to rush.
