Last week we observed the beginning of Spring, a time where everything starts a new, when life and birth is abundant around us. And I hope you have had the chance to enjoy the weather as I have. To walk out side your homes, and daily routines and just absorb the new smells that spring offers. It is as if the whole world is crying out that now is the time to celebrate new births.This is a time to celebrate the fullness and abundance of life’s many gifts and expressions. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? During this time of new birth I encourage you my friends to make the time to really get outside and go for a hike or a walk on the beach. Let your lives be filled with moments of appreciation and joy.
But it’s just so hard to keep up that awareness of what’s beautiful around us. I don’t know about you, but I’m busy. From the moment I wake up in the morning, I have things to do. Every day I have things to do, every week I have things to do, every month, I have things to do. Every YEAR, I have things to do. And I’m not one of those frantically busy people who over-schedule myself or have an exceptional amount of commitments and obligations. I am actually very careful to keep my life in balance. It is simply that daily living requires a certain amount of activity and focus.
I’m not arguing for a life of sitting around, staring at the view. I don’t think it’s our BUSY-NESS that necessarily needs to change. The reason many of us have things to do is that we LIKE the things we’re doing. You know that stereotypical vision of heaven as sitting around doing nothing while soft music plays in the background? Doesn’t it sound awful? That might be all right for a day or two of vacation, but certainly not for an eternity. It sounds BORING.
I believe what we need is more mindfulness. Mindfulness is that practice of bringing awareness to our daily lives. Can we do it right now? Bring your awareness first to your breath, as you breath in and out, feeling the air move through your nose or mouth. Feel your stomach move in and out with each breath, feel your lungs responding to air. Bring your awareness to the chair beneath you, offering soft support. Notice the back of the chair, holding you. And your legs and their position...are you comfortable how you’re sitting? Were you even aware of whether or not you were comfortable? Bring your attention to your shoulders now; feel them drop a bit as you relax; notice who is around you, to your right and left, in front and in back. Notice the warm sunshine filtering in from the windows. Notice the stained glass around you the grain of the wood of the pulpit, the details of the room. Perhaps you notice something have never noticed before.
Part of the practice of mindfulness is being NON-JUDGMENTAL in your awareness. So it doesn’t count as mindfulness if you just made a mental inventory of things that need fixing or correcting or could be better. That’s list making. Mindfulness is simply about observation and being fully present to that observation.
It’s a hard state of attention to maintain. Like meditation, mindfulness often results in a wandering mind, making lists, remembering tasks, even feeling anxious. Because being fully present and aware means that we notice not just what is good and beautiful, but also what is challenging or difficult. I think THIS is part of why we keep ourselves SO VERY busy. We keep ourselves stimulated with television and shopping and the internet—I do it too—because if we stop and bring ourselves into full awareness, it can sometimes feel devastating. We might notice that we are not as happy and fulfilled as we thought. We might remember relationships with family or friends that need work. We might notice that the world is filled with injustice and inequity. Yes, if we stop and bring ourselves into full awareness, it can sometimes feel devastating. But here’s the gift. When we are fully present and aware, we notice not just what is challenging and difficult, but also what is good and beautiful.
When we are fully present and aware, we notice not just what is challenging and difficult, but also what is good and beautiful.
The classic Chinese text, the Tao Te Ching, tells us: “When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and ease support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other.”The Tao Te Ching would advise us to let go of our judgment of what is
beautiful and what is ugly, and that’s a wonderful goal to aspire to… Wonderful, but not easy. What I’m inviting us to do today is to remember the balance, to remember that beauty and ugliness, joy and sorrow, ease and struggle, that these things go hand in hand. To be fully present and aware is to notice ALL, not just one or the other. Not JUST the joy. Not JUST the sorrow.
If all we notice of the world is its beauty and goodness, then we are NOT fully aware. For those of us who lead comfortable lives, it can be easy to ignore the problems of the world, the injustice, the suffering. We avoid eye contact with the homeless person on the street, on the public transport. We don’t know the effects of immigration policy on the people in our cities. We distance ourselves from family members we don’t understand. But that is NOT full awareness. That is NOT mindfulness.
Likewise, if all we notice of the world is its tragedy and heartbreak, then we are NOT fully aware. For those of us whose lives are struggle, it can be easy to ignore the beauty of the world, the love, the generosity. We overlook all the good work being done to make the world a better place. We don’t see the love and friendship that abounds. We ignore hope in favor of despair. But that is NOT full awareness. That is NOT mindfulness.
What I’m inviting us to do today is to remember the balance, to remember that beauty and ugliness, joy and sorrow, ease and struggle, that these things go hand in hand.
I think this is PART of the reason why volunteering time—working at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, teaching at a community center, helping at a local hospital—has been shown by multiple studies to improve depression, pain, mobility, and life satisfaction. I’m sure there are many factors as to WHY this is, but it seems to me that when we volunteer our time somewhere, we bring ourselves into full awareness that the world is not quite all right on its own, that our time is needed to help make this a better place.
And if we are fully present and aware, when we notice the world is not quite all right, we also notice that the world is nevertheless joy-filled and amazing.
And how wonderful to know that if you tend towards either extreme—seeing only joy or seeing only sorrow—that the remedy is still the same: to volunteer your time somewhere.
The tendency of most of us, I think, is to want to avoid extremes in favor of...routine. To-do lists: Television, shopping, Internet. Avoiding the lows, we also avoid the highs.
So let’s honor this time of year as a time to embrace and celebrate the beauty and wonder we tend to overlook.
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