Ok…you elected to show up for work. Getting completely caught up is a different story. You’re there…enough said…right? During an average day, how often do you putt up the hallway to fetch a pail of water? Wait that’s me gulping that much clear stuff.
Walking…how much walking do you do around the office, at home after work or during the weekend when life has delivered you a 48 hour period of nothingness but to physically focus on it would mean you’ve truly done nothing and you start to feel guilty?
This is my new game: I can name those twenty questions in two notes.
Spent some time last evening walking in out and around downtown—while most enjoy gazing at unforgettably tall skyscraping mountains or evenly paced waves crashing against Carolina shores connected to harbors, lakes and other big, big bodies of water; I locate peace in the fine art of people watching.
I’m completely fascinated with the way people walk; there are no two strides the same. You have every right to impersonate, emulate and or carry your leg like your parents when they were you’re age but in the end, just like the prints on your hand…unique and one of a kind are the name of the walking game.
What I find interesting is the way we walk. Look beyond the rush, rush of your own world and you too will quickly notice that outside of a few middle aged mall walkers, placing the right foot in front of the left may look, smell and appear to be walking but in reality…you are carrying.
When you carry…you are not free. Free means letting go and or no longer holding onto.
Your mind is completely clogged with a past you can’t change, change you’d love to shove into a parking meter but to stop because it would require change, nobody likes change so you keep carrying.
More time is spent regretting the past then pursuing fifteen minutes of happiness. Seriously! Look around you! Grumble mumble, kick stumble, we buy brand new because its like changing shoes, the goal is to create enough wind to sack the black cloud above your head; the one that’s easily convinced you of having the world’s worst day and luck.
Practice the power of getting back to yourself.
Oh oh…that sounds pretty darn selfish in a world led by parental figures and Grandparents that force us to share or else. Interestingly enough, when the decision is made to come back to yourself, the rocks and moss that once kept water from spilling over the banks on the mountains you keep in your heart tend to become fresh again, sending shivers of oh wow and neat oh skeet oh through your system of acceptance.
Julia Roberts is set to return to the screen in a film based on a single woman searching for the right man and what she discovers while uncovering is herself. Any act of mindfulness is far better than licking your lips and decorating your tongue with two freshly opened BC Powders.
Paul McCartney unknowingly demonstrated mindfulness last night at his show. The Mozart of our time spoke softly of how difficult it is to play a musical instrument and remember the lyrics of songs while fans are waving banners in the stands. He knows how much energy went into each piece of your art only to realize his creations face defeat if mindfulness isn’t practiced…so he’s trained himself to look forward.
Concentration is the key to the missing link in the monkey chain.
Don’t just drink Southern sweet tea…enjoy it; nourishing yourself with something you find pleasure in gifts your present moment with a positive and not the hell bent past that honestly means nothing to anybody but the self you keep staring at in the mirror.
Concentration is used as a knock on the door…it introduces your dreams to breakthrough. Depression, despair and fear break up their 24/7 poker game and head for the open window.
When was the last time you truly concentrated? On something other than what you did in high school and the chapters you kind of agreed to put together while in your twenties. Concentration teaches us to be aware of the present while taking fear out of the future.
McCartney performed a song that he had written after John Lennon had passed. The songwriter/performer explained that he always wanted to say something to his one time partner in art, “I love you…”
Tomorrow is always going to be too late. As much as we complain about the voices in our head, truth is…we are not separated selves. Concentration is the tool you find when not trying to buy. It’s the hand that seems to reach out and hold yours when in doubt. Concentration is a Hollywood movie played like a world premiere and your walk down the red carpet is savored like chocolate meeting taste buds.
Concentration leads to insight…maybe its time we stop carrying our day and locate better and easier ways to walk.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
Showing posts with label mindfulness and t hinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mindfulness and t hinking. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Don't beware your present....just be aware of it.
If I stop…I’ll drop. There’s no better way to explain how my engine works.
Unlike a car that softly purrs at your fifteenth red light in ten minutes or a cargo ship that shoots through algae stained ocean waves that reach to the sky to grab sunshine then shares each ray with the murky sandy floor below…I push and push until a brick breaks in the wall so tall only to discover there’s less and less air to breathe so I elect to sleep.
You know there’s something wrong with America when the cost of power drinks is more expensive than a tall icy cold can of beer.
I arrived an hour early at Tae Kwon Do… “Perfect!” I thought to myself, “I’ve been gifted with the opportunity to grab the Kindle and read. No! I’ll hit this button so it can read to me.”
Out I went.
On a ninety three degree day, a passerby took note of a middle aged man slouched over in the front seat of a parked car that had been idling for over thirty minutes…
Tap, tap, tap on the driver’s side window, “Sir is everything alright,” the neatly dressed police officer asked.
The ordeal reminded me of a story Thick Nhat Hahn shared in his book The Art of Power. He describes the Power of Mindfulness as being an energy source governed by the minds eye being connected to the present moment. When you are fully present, you are fully alive which invites incredible natural energy to the events that keep you ticking.
A great example: A weekend family BBQ, you feverishly bust tail to make the day in the sun as close to perfection one’s tiny heart can design…the moment its over…you can’t remember flopping down on the sofa to land in a classic well deserved two hour cat nap. By being in the moment your system created energy…once set free, the idea of capturing another breath of fresh air was completely out of the question.
The Power of Mindfulness helps you know what you should do and more importantly what you shouldn’t do. Think about it…although laws state that we aren’t supposed to text while driving, most do. What is your body’s natural reaction when caught up in a story? Rest, relaxation, sleep...
Mindfulness or putting energy in the present moment helps you avoid difficulties and mistakes; it protects you.
Thick Nhat Hahn writes: Mindfulness means recognizing things for what they are. I left the car on to feel the chilly air conditioning. If I had fallen into a deeper sleep and cuddled up to the gearshift, I might have slipped the car into a different gear shooting it forward. I was no longer in control.
Although I recognized something positive in getting the rare opportunity to have sixty minutes to read, nourished weren’t the elements of the moment. If I was in a city park under a tree, everything would’ve been beautiful…but my decision was to read on a blazing hot summer day in a parking lot located in a not too decorated part of town…by releasing myself from reality I set too many things in motion that could’ve gone wrong.
Sure it controlled my mental ability to pay attention in class! A police officer was called to check out Sleeping Beauty. Ha! The lack of Mindfulness created a negative but that didn’t require the day to be over. Through the same lessons taught by Mr. Hahn, one who suffers from anger, such as Mel Gibson and his latest adventures in the Paparazzi, by exercising the Power of Mindfulness, being aware of the current moment, all things that come across as ill-fated and torn can easily locate peace.
Our connection to money destroys mindfulness. The ways we make it then quickly spend it totally takes us off track, destroying our true dreams which are connected to the multitudes of others along for the ride.
When we walk, we don’t walk…our legs carry us. We are not free. The hardest thing to digest are the chapters of our personal pasts. Try this the next time: Live in the present by recognizing what’s currently making up the moment. From where I sit at this very moment I don’t see layers of work waiting for me to create…the slow rising sun from the eastern sky is lighting up the trees begging to be seen outside the radio station window. Butterflies dart through the air like a wild rollercoaster ride while a woodpecker attempts to shove its head into weathered bark where termites are watching Howie Mandel wait until the last four seconds to announce the winner on America’s Got Talent.
Life isn’t moving fast…you are. There’s always been 24 hours on the clock and the ticks that make up a minute don’t move any faster than what they did in the year 285 A.D.
In radio, there are very few who live in the present; we’re deeply addicted to the future. No on-air jock thinks of the now, it’s always twenty minutes from now, after the next song, two hours from now, from timing into the news, to getting mentally prepared to shake hands and kiss babies with the public at an event three days away...being available for the present has never been that important. Show prep is done to serve as a map but once you get there…you’ve entered a completely different state. That’s why the majority of the interns who step into this world bolt before their 400 hours…there’s nothing real inside the four walls that make up our plastic smiles because what we accomplish is not done in real time.
I don’t know how many times I’ve come off the air feeling like I’ve been onboard a nonstop overnight five hour flight to California. One step off the giant jet and its like, “Wow! Where’s that Carolina heat and humidity?”
Have fun with Mindfulness, don’t beware your present. Be aware of it. It’s amazing what you’ll discover while being in touch with those you love. Live in the energy that invites you back to being yourself…and I’ll stop sleeping in running cars on hot summer days in not so safe neighborhoods. It’s asking a lot but oh well…through mindfulness you can finally locate happiness.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
Unlike a car that softly purrs at your fifteenth red light in ten minutes or a cargo ship that shoots through algae stained ocean waves that reach to the sky to grab sunshine then shares each ray with the murky sandy floor below…I push and push until a brick breaks in the wall so tall only to discover there’s less and less air to breathe so I elect to sleep.
You know there’s something wrong with America when the cost of power drinks is more expensive than a tall icy cold can of beer.
I arrived an hour early at Tae Kwon Do… “Perfect!” I thought to myself, “I’ve been gifted with the opportunity to grab the Kindle and read. No! I’ll hit this button so it can read to me.”
Out I went.
On a ninety three degree day, a passerby took note of a middle aged man slouched over in the front seat of a parked car that had been idling for over thirty minutes…
Tap, tap, tap on the driver’s side window, “Sir is everything alright,” the neatly dressed police officer asked.
The ordeal reminded me of a story Thick Nhat Hahn shared in his book The Art of Power. He describes the Power of Mindfulness as being an energy source governed by the minds eye being connected to the present moment. When you are fully present, you are fully alive which invites incredible natural energy to the events that keep you ticking.
A great example: A weekend family BBQ, you feverishly bust tail to make the day in the sun as close to perfection one’s tiny heart can design…the moment its over…you can’t remember flopping down on the sofa to land in a classic well deserved two hour cat nap. By being in the moment your system created energy…once set free, the idea of capturing another breath of fresh air was completely out of the question.
The Power of Mindfulness helps you know what you should do and more importantly what you shouldn’t do. Think about it…although laws state that we aren’t supposed to text while driving, most do. What is your body’s natural reaction when caught up in a story? Rest, relaxation, sleep...
Mindfulness or putting energy in the present moment helps you avoid difficulties and mistakes; it protects you.
Thick Nhat Hahn writes: Mindfulness means recognizing things for what they are. I left the car on to feel the chilly air conditioning. If I had fallen into a deeper sleep and cuddled up to the gearshift, I might have slipped the car into a different gear shooting it forward. I was no longer in control.
Although I recognized something positive in getting the rare opportunity to have sixty minutes to read, nourished weren’t the elements of the moment. If I was in a city park under a tree, everything would’ve been beautiful…but my decision was to read on a blazing hot summer day in a parking lot located in a not too decorated part of town…by releasing myself from reality I set too many things in motion that could’ve gone wrong.
Sure it controlled my mental ability to pay attention in class! A police officer was called to check out Sleeping Beauty. Ha! The lack of Mindfulness created a negative but that didn’t require the day to be over. Through the same lessons taught by Mr. Hahn, one who suffers from anger, such as Mel Gibson and his latest adventures in the Paparazzi, by exercising the Power of Mindfulness, being aware of the current moment, all things that come across as ill-fated and torn can easily locate peace.
Our connection to money destroys mindfulness. The ways we make it then quickly spend it totally takes us off track, destroying our true dreams which are connected to the multitudes of others along for the ride.
When we walk, we don’t walk…our legs carry us. We are not free. The hardest thing to digest are the chapters of our personal pasts. Try this the next time: Live in the present by recognizing what’s currently making up the moment. From where I sit at this very moment I don’t see layers of work waiting for me to create…the slow rising sun from the eastern sky is lighting up the trees begging to be seen outside the radio station window. Butterflies dart through the air like a wild rollercoaster ride while a woodpecker attempts to shove its head into weathered bark where termites are watching Howie Mandel wait until the last four seconds to announce the winner on America’s Got Talent.
Life isn’t moving fast…you are. There’s always been 24 hours on the clock and the ticks that make up a minute don’t move any faster than what they did in the year 285 A.D.
In radio, there are very few who live in the present; we’re deeply addicted to the future. No on-air jock thinks of the now, it’s always twenty minutes from now, after the next song, two hours from now, from timing into the news, to getting mentally prepared to shake hands and kiss babies with the public at an event three days away...being available for the present has never been that important. Show prep is done to serve as a map but once you get there…you’ve entered a completely different state. That’s why the majority of the interns who step into this world bolt before their 400 hours…there’s nothing real inside the four walls that make up our plastic smiles because what we accomplish is not done in real time.
I don’t know how many times I’ve come off the air feeling like I’ve been onboard a nonstop overnight five hour flight to California. One step off the giant jet and its like, “Wow! Where’s that Carolina heat and humidity?”
Have fun with Mindfulness, don’t beware your present. Be aware of it. It’s amazing what you’ll discover while being in touch with those you love. Live in the energy that invites you back to being yourself…and I’ll stop sleeping in running cars on hot summer days in not so safe neighborhoods. It’s asking a lot but oh well…through mindfulness you can finally locate happiness.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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