May 14, 2011: Present Moment Awareness

Hola, All! Recently I read something in "The Way of Mastery" that has stuck in my head. It was talking about 'being in the moment'. Books have been written about this subject, but I never took the time to attempt to practice it, until now. What does present moment awareness mean? It means keeping my mind on what I am doing and not letting it wander off, not letting it go on auto-pilot, not thinking about what I'm going to do next. For instance, let's say that you are washing the dishes; how long is it before your mind is no longer thinking about the dishes? Maybe 10 seconds; could be a little longer but I doubt it! Many people bragg about having the ability to do 2-3 things at once, to multi-task. But, what are we really doing to ourselves when we do this, what's the downside? For me, my ability to focus on anything has decreased dramatically. On top of that, my listening skills have taken a dive. Unless I'm really, really interested in what someone is saying, my mind can 'leave the building' so quickly that I don't even recognize it .............until they ask me a question. Yikes, caught in the act of daydreaming!! It dawns on me that, perhaps, multi-tasking can be a forerunner to severe memory problems in later life (which isn't that far away anymore!) After years of constantly allowing one's mind to practice fracturing, it's no wonder that people have such a hard time remembering anything. But, all is not lost, as there is something that we can start doing today, and that is to practice present moment awareness. Here is my suggestion: pretend that you are watching someone else and recording everything they do, except that you are really paying extreme attention to your actions. It is helpful to not only think about what you are doing, but also to voice your actions outloud. And, try to make it fun! For instance: when washing dishes, think/say "I am turning on the faucet, squirting Dawn in the water, filling up the sink to wash the dishes. Oh, look, my hands are putting on gloves. How interesting, now they are placing two plates, three cups, and 2 forks in the water. My right hand is picking up the blue sponge and washing a plate, rinsing off the suds and putting it on the drainer. Let's do that again!.............Well, you get the picture. Keeping your mind on what you're doing may very well help you to keep your sanity as you age. "The Way of Master" says to practice this for 10 minutes every hour, which can be extreme for most of us just starting out. The most important thing is just start practicing, then increase the time as you go along. I've already done 10 minutes today, how about you?
Be aware!

Dawnie