I’ve been studying and teaching mindfulness in various ways for six years, and it never felt quite right. I could look at the research and see the benefit, but the various definitions that I tried simply lacked something that I could never really identify. However, this week a friend shared an observation, “What if mindfulness is simply being fully present to God and to yourself and to the things going on around you in the present moment?”
This is much closer to what I actually experience in the practice of mindfulness. I will define this practice of mindfulness as:
Being intentionally present to God, to myself, to the people around me, and to Creation.
Thresholds are a great way to practice this mindful presence. Whether this means pausing to be intentionally present to God, self, others and Creation when I come to a doorway or whether I find the invitation to return to this intentional awareness and presence as my stress level rises toward a threshold. I may even recognize a threshold as I practice mindfulness at a set time as I become present to my own longing, fear, anticipation, or anxiety.
In what ways might you be intentionally present to the love of God, the needs, feelings, and love of yourself and others, and the call to tend and cultivate Creation, to bear witness as image bearers?