On Mindfulness

Life is happening now. I can dwell on the past and I can plan or fear the future, but the only reality is here in the present. I think that I am living my life, but what if life is living me. Even when I sit motionlessly there is a continuous activity in my body independent of my intelligent, thinking mind. My body is breathing itself, pumping blood, digesting food in its own tempo and in its own very sophisticated and complex way. Every cell is active, doing its stuff and communicating with the rest of this inner universe built of trillions of cells. My intelligent mind does not need to give to it any directions; it knows its job. This sophisticated instrument called the body deserves some respect and attention, because when it ceases to live I will cease with it. I take 20 minutes a day to listen to it. I pay attention to non-verbal language of it. It speaks to me through sensations and feelings and my only task is to feel them, to sense them: a breath, a pulsation, a nervous tick, a shiver or feeling of warmth… I don’t engage my intelligent mind to name or judge what I sense. I simply feel it and then time disappears, burden of past and pressure of future are gone. I am in awe; I am present, resting in the safe space of meditation.