We’ve seen the footage of ferocious storms that rip up whole landscapes and communities and we’ve seen the destruction and devastation left in their wake. Contrary to what we we’d expect; we know that at the centre of that raging mass of weather, in the eye of the storm, there is a calm stillness. At the heart of the fury and chaos of mother nature’s wrath there is a quiet calm that holds a promise of peace.
So it is in the changeable reality of our lives which can sometimes feel like a series of storms whirling around us. Learning to manage change and engage with the storms of life is integral to a happy, functional existence. And, if we are to thrive; we need to be able to do more than manage, we need to be able to learn and grow from and through those storms.
The practice of mindfulness allows us to access that calm, quiet place at the centre of our own personal turmoil. It allows us to connect to the calm within us to gather strength and insight so that we can engage with the upheavals of life in a healthy, productive and wise way. In each moment we can choose to anchor ourselves in mindful presence and let the storms of life rage on around us.
Mindfulness is the practice of consciously returning to present moment awareness; re-entering the eye of the storm again and again and again. It is making a choice in every moment to disengage the autopilot and re-engage with the life that is unfolding here and now with curiosity and kindness. In mindful-practice we learn to implement daily activities that shift the way we think and see the world around us. By creating a mindful-practice routine, we strengthen neural pathways to mindful presence and in so doing, we make returning to present moment awareness a natural reflex.
Image by: Johannes Plenio sourced from Unsplash
