I will start a workshop on mindfulness next week. Some ask what is it that many people are talking about mindfulness.
Well, there are many good things about practicing mindfulness, but I can tell you that one that amaze me is the “oh!” or the “aha!” moment.
Let me explain. The continuous practice allows you to be more conscious. Conscious about what you’re feeling, how you are confronting situations in your life.
That’s when the “oh!” moment gets in. Suddenly, a situation makes you feel bad, or angry. But you realise that. So, instead of reacting to the situation, you are conscious of how it makes you feel. You make a pause, could be a small but conscious pause, and then you say to yourself: aha! I’m feeling angry, but – for example – it’s not the person that makes me feel angry, but what he or she said. So I can act according to the situation. I may say: I don’t like the way you are talking, I feel angry.
In doing that, one can approach the situation without an angry reaction, but knowing where you’re standing, and find a better way to solve it.
It could be a situation in which I am judging someone. The “oh!” moment gets in, and I can see that it is my own perspective that gets in the way of understanding other.
So, besides being a practice that help me with my attention, my health, my wellbeing, for me the “oh!” moment is a treasure.
Biking the Path 