Be here now
Ah! It's here again... Spring!
I love this time of year. I don't know what I like most; the moving further away from winter or the moving toward summer?
It's like mindfulness in a sense: BE HERE NOW!
The over-arching principle of our social cognitive brain does the same thing... it drives us to move away from threat and gravitate towards our preferences - the things we find more rewarding. So, in a way, it is a natural phenomenon to find ourselves turning our backs on those aspects we would rather not engage with in favour of finding pleasure, happiness, joy in things we like.
Natural? Perhaps.
Automatic? Yes!
What I've learned from mindfulness practice is that, although my thoughts and feelings can appear instantly, automatically... I can choose not to engage with them. I can choose to over-ride the habits that have formed over the years - but first I need to notice them as they arise. For this to happen, I need to learn to be in the moment. I need to connect to the stillness that is within... and then I will become aware of the movement of thought and of feeling as they emerge.
We are not our thoughts. We have the power of agency to choose how we think and feel.
So as I reflect on my dilemma (to move away from winter or look forward to summer), I will reconsider. I have a third option.
I will embrace the coming of Spring and enjoy the new green shoots of life; the rosy glow on our cheeks when the freeze returns temporarily.
I will take pleasure in walking down my garden path at 5 o'clock and be grateful for the colourful array of Spring flowers and for the lighter evenings that enables me to see them.
I will pause to notice the choices that open up to me as Spring unfolds (my first one today being: will I wear my winter coat or might my jacket be warm enough?)
And I will enjoy the promise of the changes that are to come with each passing day as we move in and out of seasons.
Yes! I love Spring and all that it brings so I will be here now... and enjoy the stillness I find in each moment.