September 2021 – new school year – autumn – an unpredictable, turbulent world - all with the potential to pull the mind constantly into the future - the unknown future.
As we at MPCP come together now, after the bank holiday, to start our new courses and plan our development work, we are so aware of the scale of need, the levels of distress and the uncertainty around us. And even closer to home, we have learnt that a planned course for parents has to be postponed and the promotion for another course has been held up and it may be too late for viable numbers. Always, this sense of change, shift, adjustment. Start and stop…..
Which (naturally) brings us back to mindfulness. We think about it a lot. We read about it a lot. As teachers, we research it and write about it. But we know that this isn’t enough. If we don’t practice, we don’t plug into the benefits of simplicity, appreciation for what is sustaining, moments of silence or body awareness that are always there for us.
Like everyone else, mindfulness teachers don’t always manage to do what they intend to do. Our formal practice can get knocked off course or we overlook the myriad opportunities for informal practice. We wash every day - we all clean our teeth- we drink tea or coffee or whatever through the day – but we still ‘lose the plot’; we climb onto the old automatic treadmill and off we go.
So what can any of us ordinary mortals do? We just have to Begin Again - without the self-criticism. ‘Oh OK, I was lost – but right now I’m noticing my feet on the floor, the feel of clothes against my body, my breath. I’m noticing my life. And it's autumn - and the leaves are turning - Wow!
This is truly revolutionary stuff, once we stop.
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