It is common to create artificial ‘aids’ to help cultivate an attitude of mindfulness. Some people post sticky-notes aound the house, other’s create an affirmation jar (pulling one out every morning to set the tone for the day), still others may ‘schedule’ it in by pausing every hour on the hour to breath deeply three times before going onto the next task on his/her ‘To Do List’.
What if we allowed life to be our partner for practicing mindfulness? Let’s assume that we move through our life, the same way we drive our car. Each morning we get in our car and head down the road, following our old familiar route, unaware of the buildings that we pass every day of every week. Some would say that we are unconscious. Yet awareness must be present within — because in a nanosecond, when something special or unique happens that intrudes upon our disconnected state, we are jolted back into the moment. We become present, we are able to pay attention to that pedestrian who is just about to step off the curb or the brake lights that flash unexpectedly in front of our eyes. It is this JOLT that brings us back into our bodies, into our cars and we avoid disaster.
In a similar way we can practice the presence of being jolted back into the Spiritual State of Awareness, this moment, as though it were fresh. And if we are truly prepared, practiced in being attentive, we can shift from being reactive to being responsive — using the Jolt as an opportunity to avoid being habitual or automated in our response.
We can use each of these Life Jolts, seemingly random events, as a continuous flow of opportunities to be present to THIS moment. There are multitudes of jolts every single day, the more we look for them, the more we find. Each one an invitation to step outside of our habituated mental process and to be present to what IS within us and around us.
Continuously cultivating Awareness.