Thinking About Age... Thinking About Life

I think we all put a little too much stress on ourselves. I am completely guilty of this, so much so that I find that I am often times my own worst enemy.

Take the whole aging process - I created a whole slew of non existent, time constraint issues for myself concerning my life. I think by turning 41, I sort of some how decided that I have some imaginary time table and that because I have made it this far and it seems like life is just floating by so fast, that certainly time is a-wasting.

But let's be honest for a minute, time is going at the same speed it always did. Christmas, though suddenly only 7ish months away, is STILL seven months away and a LOT can happen in that amount of time. I think the only difference is, now I simply don't take the time to breathe, enjoy, and savor. 

Oh... I go through my phases of having my shit together, but like many of you, I sort of throw myself into a "tizzy" and flip back and forth in my own little self-induced drama storm. 

Truth is - no one knows how much time they have - so why the time table? NONE of it is guaranteed. Why have I set these limitations and guidelines for myself? 

It all just wears me out. 

With that being said, I really want to work on practicing mindfulness more. I think it is incredibly necessary for me. 

Some of you may be wondering what mindfulness is, and I'm going to tell you! I first read about the practice of mindfulness back in 1996 or so. I read a book by this random Buddhist practitioner, and in my desire to slow my mind down, and in turn live a less anxious life, I learned about this exercise. If you Google it, you'll see all of this stuff about reaching a path to enlightenment and what not, and no, I'm not seeking a guru and clear out my chakras, I'm just trying to appreciate the moment. 

Now officially, the Buddha advocated that one should establish mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) in one's day-to-day life, maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of one's body, feelings, and mind. By doing so, it is believed that you become wiser, reduce stress, can even conquer a few fears and open your mind. 

I'm down for all of that. 

But the practice - goes a little bit deeper. 

I hope you watched the video. 

Now... onto trying to slow down my mind, being aware of the blessings all around me... and really...  chill the eff out!