Why are people plugged into their gadgets when:
- walking,
- running,
- biking,
- exercising,
- walking on the beach,
- sitting on an airplane,
- driving a car,
- cooking,
- eating,
- hiking,
- doing their work, or
- watching TV?
The list goes on and on. Many of us have witnessed this and many of us have done these things. There’s even a young woman in my neighborhood who walks her dog while reading a book! A habit of mine is to attend a neighborhood outdoor jazz event while reading the paper. After it’s over, I can’t remember what I read let alone tell you what songs they played.
Okay, I will make one exception – listening to music or books on CDs while driving on the interstate. But even then I grow tired of it, and I just focus on nature in all its beauty and sometimes harshness.
My reason for raising this issue is because there’s a tendency to complicate what is mindfulness. To me, the basic and fundamental starting point of mindfulness is practicing to be in the moment and noticing when your mind has wandered and bring it back to what’s right in front of you. If we are able to nurture this practice, then we will witness a transformation of being present in the moment with whatever we are about, e.g., listening to co-workers or customers, comforting a grieving friend, enjoying the savory taste of food, or astutely aware that our bodies are breathing. There will be a continued transformation for us to experiencing how to move from our head to our heart, listening deeply to one’s ego (both the unhealthy and healthy sides), suspending judgmental attitudes, and acceptance of what is.
So, let’s plug into the present and tune into the moment.