Mindfulness

On this cold winter morning, I stood in my balcony basking in the Sun (which had been kind enough to show up today) and sipping my tea. I was busy looking at the birds perching on a tree in the park right in front of my house.

My trance like concentration on bird watching was broken in a split second when an ambulance with its blaring siren rushed past my house. From the rear windshield all I could see was an IV fluid bottle dangling from a stand. In a fraction of a second, my mind became a victim to an emotional hijack.

I was transported to the times when I myself and also my (late) Mother had experienced such (unfortunate) episodes when an ambulance had rushed us to a hospital just in time. It felt as if I was reliving those painful and tragic moments with my eyes wide open and still fixated on the tree. A conscious reality check nudged me back to the present moment and by then my tea was all cold.

In retrospect, this casual episode depicts how vulnerable we are to our mind. We feel & believe that we are in control of life, whereas it is evident that the brain is controlling us every second. No wonder the wise sages have said, “The mind is a good servant and a bad master”.

In nutshell, we need to consciously take the reigns of the mind into our hands, and direct it before it starts to direct us.