Where do you want to go?

Have you ever taken time out to really consider why you want to lose weight or get healthier overall, or let go of a substance abuse problem or even change your attitude?   You may experience ongoing demands and stress at work, stress at home, relationship struggles, illness, or financial crisis and rarely or never take time out to contemplate and really pay attention to who you are,what you are experiencing and why you have certain goals, hopes and dreams.  Practicing mindfulness is one way to accomplish a greater sense of self and others and gain a deeper understanding of what really matters to you.  What is mindfulness?  It is an awareness of the here and now, the real-time experiences in your day to day life. It is acceptance and fully attending to whatever happens in your daily life.  It is living each moment and each event as fully as possible, embracing the hope and the despair, the joy and the discouragement, the risks and the fear and as fully as possible.  This is counter to the manner is which most of us have learned to experience our lives.  We live in a society where almost everywhere we look,  the focus is on how to be more, accomplish more, be more successful, be more beautiful, and then be viewed by more as worthy. We cannot easily escape media's over-emphasis of the perceived and highly regarded rewards that accompany looking your best, losing weight, having cosmetic surgery, or undergoing that much "needed" makeover.  Consider this though. The real makeover needs to start from the inside.  Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of the book entitled “Coming to our Senses” reminds us of this: “There is no time other than now.  We are not, contrary to what we may think, “going” anywhere. Even though we may imagine some other future moment as more fulfilling, more pleasant, more rewarding, we can’t really know this."  Instead of living in a dream reality, wake up! Today is your reality.  Embrace who and what you are.  Does this mean you can't hope, dream, want, wish, work toward, strive, commit? Of course not.  You can do all of these things but remain mindful of the fullness and beauty and richness of your current experience.  How to accomplish this?  Practice mindfulness. Practice being in the moment. Practice letting go and accepting and moving on and letting go again and moving on again. Practice mindfulness and remaining in the here and now and experience a more peaceful and less turbulent journey as you pursue your dreams and goals.