We Should be Mindful of Being Mindful
While a truly remarkable and personally life altering practice, it would seem that modern guru’s have co-opted the phrase for personal gain.
Mindfulness has become one of the latest fads for folks who’d like to have you believe they have everything figured out. They film their YouTube vlogs in their antiseptic white $5,000 per month apartments sipping their latest partnered greens supplement telling you that the key to unlocking your success in life is simply taking 10 minutes a day to reflect and center yourself.
All the while you’re being taken advantage of. They’re directly profiting off of the lines they’re pedaling to you — and while you’re aware of that — the videos really are just so tempting. We become envious. That life looks incredibly glamorous, but we never really know what it took for them to get there. Could it have been hard work and dedication? Certainly, but given the available evidence on screen, it would appear much more likely that they’ve conned their way to the top.
Now let’s take a step back and address mindfulness in general. As a personal anecdote, I’ve struggled for a long time to find my own balance. I’m very cerebral by nature — likely to an unhealthy degree. I enjoy living in my own head, but the self-doubt and anxiety that can often accompany the more negative cerebral spirals leave something to be desired.
For a long time, I scoffed at mindfulness, yoga, meditation, etc. My assumption was that these practices were just a poor substitute for long runs, lifting weights, or hiking to name a few…but I was wrong.
By a stroke of luck, my employer advertised a partnership with Calm, giving us free access to the app. I played around with the soundscapes and song areas. To be honest, I was really interested in trying the morning meditations, but even alone in my living room, I felt a sense of embarrassment. I’m not sure why, but the thought of sitting there with my own thoughts made me incredibly uncomfortable, yet I couldn’t help but feel like there was something to be learned. Growth to be had.
The first attempt didn’t go very well. I fidgeted and stirred, scratched and twisted my head around. I couldn’t get comfortable enough to truly focus on the words Tamara was saying.
But after a few attempts I began to understand the things that I had been hearing in college lecture halls, YouTube videos, and corporate seminars.
I’ve heard talk of transcendent experiences but had never considered them to be something I could personally experience. Yet as I sat one morning in my living room listening to the Daily Calm I began to feel an incredible sense of relief and joy. I FELT more appreciative. Appreciation and gratitude appeared in physical form, radiating throughout my head and shoulders and down to the small of my back.
All of sudden — even though my eyes were closed — I saw an intense flash of white light that remained until the meditation finished and I opened my eyes.
I sat there for several minutes, completely baffled by what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that an experience like that could exist without some sort of mind-altering chemical, let alone that I could actually experience it.
I’d love to say that that sort of experience is common, or that once you’ve experienced it once you’ll experience it every time thereafter — but for me, that just hasn’t been the case. Nevertheless, it sparked something in me that has altered my perspective on myself and those around me.
I’m not perfect of course, and I certainly have bad — and worse — days. That guy cuts me off in traffic and I grimace, struggling to prevent myself from committing the all-too-common “Fundamental Attribution Error” by simply projecting my own temporary negative feelings or emotions onto someone else.
Despite this, the practice is worth it. For me, it shifted my baseline. It’s brought me peace. I’m a work in progress, but each inch closer to consistent peace throughout your day is a victory in and of itself. I don’t know if it will have the same effects on you as it has on me, but I’d encourage you to try — no greens supplement purchase is required.
Please consider further reading from Dr. Preeti Singh
