There is a rowing machine at our local YMCA in Virginia that I try to make the acquaintance of when I am here. You fiddle with buttons for different rowing programs, and I like the one called “Just Row.”
You can look at the button name as you row, and the other day I was struck by how hard it was to do literally that: “Just Row.” Not so much physically, but mentally. My mind, and heart, and who knows what else were all over the map. I was not focusing on what I was doing, I was not present, I was not particularly grateful for the privilege of just rowing. I was elsewhere.
I try to take that little button with me, as a mantra. Just walk. Just pray. Just truly BE with the person you are with. Just breathe. To just work… especially if you have been without work. All grace.
I think of the untold thousands in Haiti tonight, where “just” almost anything—eating, sleeping, drinking water—is a cruel joke. And of the call to all of us: Just listen. Just see. Just respond. Just act.
May your week bring both mindfulness… moments of “just” whatever you need to notice and take in…. and moments of sharing and caring for others.
For a brilliant overview of the practice of presence, of mindfulness as a spiritual tool, come to, or tune into, this week’s Adult Education class at 1:30, “Mindful Living in the New Year,” taught by Diane Johnston. |