Mind your manners! Mind your ways! Mind your mother! Who hasn’t heard these things during their lives? Notice that they all have an exclamation point. That is because these are usually commands given to children. There are other “minding” phrases that are less commanding: A mind is a terrible thing to waste (from UNCF) or I don’t mind at all.
The commonality of these phrases is the idea of the mind as a verb. What is really being said is use your mind, either to remember your manners, your behavior, or your mother. Never mind is another one that is used often in exasperation and means to stop thinking about something. Or does it? Doesn’t “never mind” really mean, “since you are not listening to me, I am wasting my time?”
And yet, we know that our minds are extremely powerful, able to heal us when nothing else can or to lead to places few have gone before. The capacity of the human mind is beyond all computers invented to date. And yet, how mindful are we each day? How often do we actually apply our mind to a particular thing during the day? Learning to be a contemplative is learning to be mindful of the little things. St. Francis would say that by being mindful we can discover the very presence of God in everything in the natural world.
Living mindfully is also a Zen activity. It is a way to control diet (mindful eating) and heal the body. Henry Ford once said: “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” But I wonder, is it really such hard work or are we afraid of what we will actually discover about ourselves when we do it? Will we discover that I don’t need another glass of wine or serving of food? Or, more importantly, will I discover by thinking about things that I have ignored my loved ones, my responsibilities, the poor among us?
To live mindfully is to open oneself to the possibilities of each moment. Be forewarned, however, the possibilities can be scary. When we see ourselves as we really are, before the Creator of the universe we are engaging in the most meaningful “minding” there is. The Bible references this as “awe” or “fear of God”. That is the challenge, to be brave enough to be mindful. Ford was right and wrong, it is hard work to think but it is hard work because of what it can reveal to us and about us. Be brave dear ones, be mindful.
TMM