A daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation brings countless benefits. The most significant change is an increased sense of AWARENESS. Awareness is the root of opportunity; for without it, change, personal self- discovery and improvement is stifled.
First, there comes an awareness of your thoughts. From there, one can choose whether or not to give credence to those thoughts…the majority of which are not really yours. In fact some say 80%+ of your thoughts have been passed onto you by grandparents, parents, teachers, friends and acquaintances from your childhood to the present.
Here are two examples from students in my classes. One student said that, as a child, her Mother would often tell her that she would “never amount to anything” if she continued to exhibit a particular behavior. That young girl, now an adult, suffers from general anxiety disorder. Another student remembers a teacher telling him that “failure is never an option”. “Growing up” believing this particular thought, this adult male exhibited severe signs of stress and anxiety when he had to take a test or would hesitate following through on any of his ideas…for fear of failure.
Simply put, most of the thoughts we have about ourselves are “fake news”. And through a practice of mindfulness, we learn to become aware of those thoughts that create stress, anxiety, worry, self- doubt, etc. We learn to accept them as thoughts and nothing more. We can learn how to choose whether or not we want react to them or to let them be. But we only do this through awareness and by doing so, we open up a whole new world of opportunities.
When we live by those thoughts created in the past or that we project into the future, we miss the opportunity of living, enjoying, and appreciating the present moment. We are so entangled in thoughts, we fail to “smell the roses” or miss the opportunities that may fall into our lap.
Don’t believe everything you think. Choose to respond rather than to react to those thoughts that are detrimental to your physical and emotional well-being. Learn the practice of Mindfulness and seek the opportunity of living life to the fullest. That’s your birthright!
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle