Bill Leslie: The act of mindfulness

Are you mindful or mindless? It’s become a big question these days. That question is the centerpiece of a Great Courses CD series I’m enjoying this summer.

Professor Mark Muesse describes mindfulness as a skill “of being deliberately attentive to an experience at it unfolds.”

Muesse goes on to say that it’s important to allow that experience to happen without judging it or trying to conceptualize what is occurring.

Last weekend I was with my family at the beautiful home of friends along the coast. The weekend was a retirement gift. It couldn’t have been lovelier.

As usual, I was awake before everyone else. The coffee was brewing by 4:45 a.m.

Soon, I was out on the back porch enjoying the sea breeze, the salty air and the thunder of the ocean.

After coffee, I began my daily routine of prayer, meditation and exercises for my neck. I suffered a pinched nerve earlier this year, but I am feeling a lot better now.

Normally, I would finish my routine with a long walk or run on the beach. However, I wanted to save that for later. On this day I wanted to be still and quiet and totally attentive to the unfolding sunrise.

What I received was a unique gift of light, color, sound and texture.

The next day dawned with a totally different look. A thick bank of clouds appeared to rule out any chance of another glorious sunrise. However, at the last moment a faint amber light penetrated the gray and burst forth like a conquering hero.

Another way of practicing mindfulness is to listen as intently as possible to those around you. That includes the chatter of grandchildren. In my case, that’s Elizabeth and Ava. What a joy to hear them communicate!

I am still a rookie at mindfulness and meditation, but I’m getting better at it. I have long struggled with concentration. This is one way to deal with that – training my mind to live in the moment and to avoid constant commentary and judgment.