‘Mindfulness depends upon awareness’
Shauna L Shapiro
Being present and aware of the moment that we are currently in is something that chaplain’s need to practise as much as possible. Developing this skill is one of the most helpful tools we have in offering spiritual support to people we meet. The ability to deeply listen and to hear with fresh ears, to encourage people to feel valued and that their contribution is worthwhile whatever the conversation may be about.
Shauna Shapiro who wrote the above quote has uploaded an interesting TED talk: https://youtu.be/IeblJdB2-Vo about mindfulness and how it depends on awareness, not just of our surroundings but also of what we are giving our attention to. Something else that she says is that ‘what you practice, grows stronger’ – in fact that is the title of her TED talk in the link above. She speaks of how often we tend to judge ourselves and practice negative speaking and then shows how this impacts our ability to practise effective self-care. For example, if we are practising judgement, we grow judgement, if we are practising talking down to ourselves, we grow talking down to ourselves. Therefore, if we are practising self-love or at least liking, we grow our ability to care about ourselves and our well-being.
Have you ever spent time listening to your inner voice? Sense checking the things that you tell yourself? Are you judgemental, your own harshest critic perhaps? When we pay attention to how we speak to ourselves, we often find that is the case and although we all need to learn from our mistakes in order to grow, how often do you find yourself talking yourself out of doing something new or in a different way because you are so busy telling yourself how hopeless you are?
So, mindfulness is very much about the development of entire self-awareness. What we are feeling, what we are doing and what we are thinking in this moment, learning to be present, and then using that awareness to enable us to transform our reactions to our current situation. If we can deal with the anxiety / pain / discomfort we are feeling in this moment, we can lessen it’s impact on our lives going forward. Learn to deeply listen to yourself with kindness.
If talking would help to explore ways of developing this skill I’m happy to listen.
I aim to wander around the duck pond and surrounding areas near the Engine Rooms on dry Thursday lunchtimes between 12md and 2pm.
In the meantime, on the rainy Thursdays, or if you don’t manage to catch up with me outside, as always you can contact us via email on info@mitechaplaincy.com where you can request a call-back, or you are very welcome to call me directly on my mobile: 07526 378529 either to chat or to arrange a time to meet.
Debbie
We also have a range of resources on our web-site including some that are more specific to the Covid-19 outbreak and some that help in dealing with stress: https://mite.org.uk
If you prefer you can easily keep in touch with us on social media:
Facebook: @mitechaplaincy
Twitter: @mitesthwarr
Image by Keegan Hauser on Unsplash
