A Lesson in Mindfulness

I have been meaning to start a blog for months now. With all that is going on in our country and the world now seems like a good time to start. After I had my own shut down and disbelief of what happened I started to think about how my clients and community would be impacted. I thought of the children that would worry about their families being deported even if they were citizens. I thought of the fear they would have because of their skin color. I thought of all my clients that were LGBTQIA and the fear they have for themselves and their newly legal families. I thought of the victims of sexual abuse, the fear they already had that no one believed them and how much worse that is now. I thought of the victims of domestic violence, the fear the no one could help them and how that is much worse now.

Now I’ve started to feel overwhelmed and helpless as well. I first take a deep breath to stop my fears spinning out of control and then look into my therapist tool box to see the best way to help address problem. If there is ever a time for Mindfulness this is that time. So, what is mindfulness and how can it help in these situations? Mindfulness is the act of being in the moment. It is not worrying about the future and getting stuck in the past. It is being in the here and now. Mindfulness is an emotionally non-reactive state. It is not judging the experience as good or bad.

Wait you say, how can I not react to this? The answer is to be in the moment. To not look at what is going to happen in January but what is happening right now. Right now, there are people in our lives whether we know them or just pass them by that could use kindness and understanding. We are still having dinner with friends and family and those moments we need to be present supporting them and enjoying our time with them. Use these moments to get involved in positive activities to make real change in someone’s life or the world. Mindfulness is about acknowledging your emotions even if they are painful and not reacting to the painful feelings. This is how we remain clear headed and not cause more harm. This is where we make choices to fight in ways that matter. This is how we chose to not let this take over our existence. This is how we do not get wrapped up in hate. This is what I am choosing to do.