By Ann Brand
As many folks do, I came to mindfulness practice through suffering. After the death of my mother, I found myself struggling with my experience of grief, stuffing it down in the hopes I would be fine as I attempted to go about meeting my responsibilities to family, friends, and work. I wasn’t fine. When mindfulness practice was suggested to me by my grief counselor, I was skeptical, but willing to try anything to find relief from my suffering. Through the practice of mindfulness I found calm, clarity, and ease to support me in allowing my grief to be experienced in a caring and supportive manner.
What I didn’t expect was the clarity my mindfulness practice brought me around values, beliefs, and faith.This clarity showed up in many different ways. In my work as an educator, I value attentiveness to my students’ needs. My mindfulness practice helped me notice when I was distracted in the classroom so I could shift my awareness back to the student in front of me asking the question. In my relationships with family and friends, I value being a compassionate person. My mindfulness practice helped me tune into emotions, both my own and others, helping me to respond with skill and care to needs and distress around me. In my faith life, I value acting in line with spiritual teachings of compassion, love, generosity, and justice. My mindfulness practice helped me to see where my actions were falling out of line with my faith life, and where I could act when I was feeling stuck or overwhelmed with injustice in the world. It also helped me pay better attention to the sermon!
Mindfulness practice has offered me ways to see more clearly the next right step, big or small. There are many injustices in our community that need our attention, care, and action. The overwhelming need can easily lead to despair, which can get us caught in a cycle of feeling paralyzed, thus feeding our despair. We don’t know where to start, so we end up doing nothing. This is a familiar human response, one I have experienced often. My mindfulness practice has helped me notice this impulse to disengage, show myself some understanding, and then take a breath to come back to what matters. From this place, I can pause to consider what to do next. That could be gathering more information, writing a letter, making a call, or connecting with folks who share my values for compassionate action. Mindful awareness helps the actions I take come from a place of clarity, where action is in line with what matters.
Three Breaths
When we notice ourselves feeling overwhelmed with the latest news of injustice taking place in our world, we can pause and take just three deep breaths to help us come back to the present moment and experience some calm and clarity. From here, we can more clearly see the choices available for taking action, ensuring that we are acting in line with our values and beliefs.
- Place your hand on your belly.
- As you breathe in deeply, notice the sensation of the breath as it moves in and out of your body. Feel your belly rise on the inhale, and fall on the exhale.
- Do this three times.
Ann Brand is a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church and the Eau Claire Buddhist Sangha. She teaches mindfulness practice in the Chippewa Valley and beyond.