Enjoying the present moment... even when winter seems never-ending!

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/frted/

The uncommonly cold weather is a favorite topic of conversation right now here in Minneapolis. Waking up to subzero temperatures when the calendar officially reads "springtime" is taking its toll on everyone - especially when we consider that we had green leaves on the trees by this same date last year! Even though I can usually find a lot of reasons to love winter, I'm with you all - I'm officially "over it." Done with snow, done with slippery streets, fuzzy boots, even cocoa and a roaring fire on the hearth. Mostly I'm just done with hibernating.

But maybe this long winter can teach us all something. Patience is the ability to wait graciously. In that sense it's a lot like mindfulness - living with awareness in the present moment. After all, impatience sure seems like the opposite of mindfulness. If you're impatient, you're dwelling on the future and overlooking all of the precious gifts that are within reach right now.

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/frted

One of my favorite quotes, which guides my life (and I'm sure will also guide the path of this blog), comes from the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, arguably one of the few people on the earth who can be called a "living Buddha." He writes, "If we want to enter Heaven on Earth, we need only one conscious step and one conscious breath. When we touch peace, everything becomes real. We become ourselves, fully alive in the present moment." We come to realize, "It is a miracle to walk on the Earth." We don't need to take a vacation to experience beauty, or receive a promotion to feel validated. We don't need to wait - what we are waiting for is already happening, right now, under our feet and all around us. 

It's not easy to live mindfully. It's like trying to improve your posture: you sit up straight and feel how good it is to have your body fall into alignment. And yet, one minute later, your shoulders are hunched, your back is bent... so it goes with mindfulness. You breathe in one conscious breath and see how beautiful the world is around you, feel your mind fill with a sense of deep peace. And then, some little thought drags you away again, and next thing you know you barely remember how you spent the last half hour. 

Here's a short summary of Thich Nhat Hanh's five steps to mindfulness (you can find the full article in his own words here). I will be challenging myself to put these last (I hope!) days of winter to use, trying to follow these steps towards a more mindful lifestyle.

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/frted/

Step 1: Mindful Breathing. The first step is deceptively simple: breathing consciously. Basically, this means recognizing your in-breath as your in-breath and your out-breath as your out-breath. Knowing - really knowing - that you are breathing in as you breathe in and breathing out as you breathe out helps anchor your mind within your body. When you're fully focused on your breathing, you don't dwell in the past or future. Hanh writes, "The in-breath can be a celebration of the fact that you are alive, so it can be very joyful... The greatest of all miracles is to be alive, and when you breathe in, you touch that miracle. Therefore, your breathing can be a celebration of life."

You don't need to turn mindful breathing into a formal meditation. The beauty of mindful breathing is that you can do it any time you have a minute or two, as a way to, as Hahn puts it: "bring your mind home to yourself." 

Step 2: Concentration. This can be seen as an extension of the mindful breathing exercise. As you breathe consciously, let your mind follow your in-breath all the way in, and your out-breath all the way out. You don't let your concentration be interrupted by random thoughts or stimuli around you. Over time, this becomes second nature. But in the beginning it may feel more like you need to separate yourself or go to a special, quiet location in order to fully quiet your mind. Whatever you do, don't become frustrated. If your mind wanders, just bring it back again - back to your breath.

Step 3: Awareness of your Body. As you are practicing mindful breathing, say to yourself: "As I breathe in, I am aware of my body. As I breathe out, I am aware of my body." Simple, right? Feel what it's like to be in your body. One thing that I find helps is to try to feel your clothes on your skin - these sensations are there, all the time, but we rarely pay any attention to them. According to Hanh, "This exercise is simple, but the effect of the oneness of body and mind is very great. In our daily lives, we are seldom in that situation. Our body is there but our mind is elsewhere. Our mind may be caught in the past or in the future, in regrets, sorrow, fear, or uncertainty, and so our mind is not there."

Try sending your consciousness to different body parts: your hands, your heart, your eyes. If you want to take it a step further, try to cultivate a sense of thankfulness as you do so. "Breathing in, I feel my heart. Breathing out, I am thankful for my heart," etc. 

Step 4: Releasing Tension. It's impossible to live in our society without holding tension in our bodies. For some of us, it manifests as pain. Some of us experience it emotionally, as anxiety or depression. According to Chinese medicine, "where there is blockage, there is disease." It's possible to start releasing those blockages by practicing the following meditation, at work, in the car, on the couch: "Breathing in, I am aware of my body. Breathing out, I release tension from my body." Sometimes it helps to visualize black smoke leaving your nose as you breathe out, representing the tension or negativity leaving your body. 

Step 5: Walking Meditation. Hanh states, "When you practice mindful breathing you simply allow your in breath to take place. You become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. The same thing is true with mindful walking. Every step is enjoyable. Every step helps you touch the wonders of life."

Right now, I've been missing my walks outdoors. It's been a bad year for ice and I've found the sidewalks too treacherous for any kind of meditative walking. But you can apply the same principles to any easy task, tasks where you usually tend to "zone out" and think about other things: "Breathing in, I wash this dish. Breathing out, I rinse it under the sink." Practicing awareness as you go through the simple routine of life is what mindfulness is all about. It transforms every mundane task into a celebration.

I will continue to write about the subject of mindfulness in other entries. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your stories about mindfulness, patience, or hibernation. Have you ever experienced a period where you were just waiting for something to happen? How did you make the best of it?