Mindfulness: Just another Trendy Idea?

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I find myself upset when the vehicle in front of me is going 20 mph in a 35-mph zone. I carefully examine the checkout lines at the supermarket before joining one, then am irritated if the person in front of me takes “too much time.” Recently, I considered myself a victim because I was sitting “too long” in a pharmacy waiting room.

As you can tell, I’m not a patient person. It’s a character trait of which I’m not proud. For years, I’ve been aware of my impatience, have prayed about it and tried to get better. But to be honest, there’s been little improvement.

(On the bulletin board in my office where I write these blog is a sign in 60-point type that says, “Patience.” It blends with all the other stuff on the board and I manage to avoid seeing it most of the time.)

Wanting the Future Sooner?

“Waiting impatiently is just another way of saying we want the future to come sooner,” writes Anne Kertz Kernion in a recent issue of the National Catholic Reporter.

How ironic for me personally. I’m retired. From what crucial task does waiting detain me? And yearning for the future? Despite my faith in the hereafter (not without doubts), I‘ve evidently not yet fully accepted the fact that my time on this earth is running out. So why should I be in a hurry?

I presume that I’m far from alone in letting so much of life go by, paying little attention to the now and instead being impatient to “get on with things.” So how to get out of that rut?

In her article, entitled “Mindfulness Grounds us in God and the Present,” Kertz suggests a practice that she calls “Christian mindfulness,” which is similar to a phrase I’ve heard much of my life, “the sacrament of the present moment.” She attributes that phrase to the 18^th century French Jesuit, Jean-Pierre de Caussade.

Anne Kertz Kernion

You don’t have to be a Christian to practice mindfulness, however, as a review of articles and books about the subject abound on the Internet and in book stores and libraries. Lots of people are interested in becoming more patient and refraining from letting life just go by.

The idea is “mindfully dwelling in the present moment,” Kertz writes. Faith adds motivation and incentive for doing so.

“This requires us to slough off the clutter in our heads, those persistent thoughts and projected worries that occupy so much of our mental real estate,” she writes. “Every time we are distracted by future concerns or fret about past events, we can remind ourselves that God is with us right here, right now.”

So it requires awareness not only of what’s going on in the moment but for people searching for God, an awareness of God’s presence.

Easier Said

All of which, of course, is much easier said than done. I suppose it’s a matter of developing a habit, which, ironically, I was recently explaining to my five-year-old grandson who is trying to quit sucking his thumb. I tried to explain what a habit is and that habits can be consciously broken, or developed. I didn’t say how challenging both are for young and old.

“Bringing our awareness back to the present again and again, noticing the details of our surroundings, creates a sense of sacred space and expanded time,” writes Kertz. “We see the beauty here and now. Within weeks, the feeling of being pressed for time – the primary cause of stress – will slowly dissolve.”

Reading this, some, like me, will instinctively and ironically think, “I don’t have time for this. Mindfulness is just another trendy idea that will soon run its course.”

Maybe. But I plan to take Kertz’s word for it and give it a try, and I hope some readers of this blog will join me.