Question: Do you think people need to be more mindful of everyone’s feelings and our own as we walk on our journey of self-discovery? Have you ever been all over the place, too worried about tomorrow? You’re so concerned about tomorrow that you cannot enjoy the little moments in your life each day. You are here, but you are not here. Relationships are complicated enough as we go through our ups and downs individually and with our partners, family, and friends. According to verywellmind.com, mindfulness is “focusing your awareness of your present moment. It means paying attention to your sensations, feelings, thoughts, and environment in the here and now with an attitude of now of acceptance.”
Writer Max Depree states, “We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.” We evolve just like when a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly, and it is a beautiful sight to see and does what it needs to do—the same we are not meant to be. Growth is inevitable. We choose how we want to affect the world and the people around us. Does our growth feeds positivity or perpetrate evil? The choice is yours.
We don’t realize what we are doing to ourselves when we try not to be more mindful. Our emotions may be erratic. We may be depressed, full of anxiety or stress, and forgetful. You may be closed-minded and perplexed. Your relationship can be suffering because of your lack of mindfulness. You can be easily distracted, unfocused, and have no patience or self-compassion.
Being mindful allows you not to judge. Sometimes I have to check myself when conversing with my friends because I judge them. I nor anybody else is not here to judge anyone for the situations they find themselves getting into; you are there to listen. There is a fine line between giving someone sound advice and judging them. You have to recognize which one you are doing and correct your behavior.
Being mindful demonstrates patience. We want what we want, and we want it now. But that is not how life is. Things tend to happen on their own time, and you cannot rush it. We tend to rush into relationships or to conclusions when we don’t need to rush into anything. You also cannot force someone to do what you want or what you think they want if they are not ready. Disaster happens when things are not thoroughly thought out and rushed. Disaster occurs when we ignore the signs given to us. We don’t have the patience to wait.
Be more open-minded and full of curiosity. Don’t you remember how open-minded and curious you were when you were a child? When we grow up, we tend to lose that open-mindedness and curiosity. We are focused on paying the bills, keeping a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, etc. That curiosity and open-mindedness allowed us to dream. Living in this world today, you cannot afford not to be open-minded and full of curiosity. Shit happens, and you need to be able to adapt to new possibilities. You cannot do that with a closed mind because you will end up stagnant in the place you are at and depressed.
Trust. Many of us are very hard on ourselves, thinking we are supposed to be perfect human beings. We don’t trust ourselves, and we don’t trust our feelings. But it is okay to make mistakes; mistakes are lessons for growing and course correction. So please don’t beat yourself up about it. Trust yourself to comprehend and learn from your mistakes. We need to regulate our emotions, so we can deal with our feelings in a responsible, less damaging way that doesn’t affect our well-being negatively.
Being mindful is acceptance your reality. Why walk around in a façade with blinders? How is that helping you improve your life? Trust your gut feelings because it is tugging at you to tell you something isn’t right. This place may be your dystopia. Pull yourself out of that and walk into the light. Sometimes we pull the cover over our eyes because we don’t want to face the truth, but like I said before. How is that helping you? It’s holding you back and prolonging the situation. WAKE UP!
Sometimes you are in need to let go! Have you ever noticed how long some people can hold on to a grudge? Or how negative some people are? They always think about what can go wrong, and the thought of it going right is slim to none. Don’t sow doubt into your life. Let things be. Whenever you say, “I don’t think this or I don’t think that,” you are sowing doubt into your life. We tend to push people away, thinking negatively or holding on to grudges. We need to lead with what is going on today. How we are feeling today, not yesterday, or that time such and such did that. Everyone gets a new day to start over, not just you. So if God is giving you a chance, why cannot you give others a chance? Remember you forgive, not forget, and set boundaries.
At the end of the day, if you write down all the things that occurred throughout the day, what people said to you, how you reacted, how they reacted, and how you felt. You can get an idea of the things that need to improve in your life. Be vigilant about how people treat us and how we treat others if we want to live a purposeful, positive life with lots of possibilities. Self-reflect and be more mindful.