Why It Matters

Who knew that a simple little tag on a simple little blog post would steer me down a new path?

The tag?
Mindfulness.

The path?
Mindfulness.

The blogger, Smilecalm, liked my last post. It’s always a good feeling to receive a ‘like.’ I believe (s)he likely found me because of the mindfulness tag I added to that post. So I in turn visited Smilecalm’s blog and soon found myself immersed in a whole new world. One click led to another and I discovered inspiration in the simple practice of mindfulness and in people such as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Kabat-Zinn.

The next thing I discovered was that there are people developing mindfulness practices in schools! Somewhere I read someone lament, “We tell our students all day long to ‘Pay attention!’ yet we never teach them how.” Whoa.

Mind you (no pun intended 🙂 ) I’ve never had my own, regular, meditation practice. But the idea of teaching my students to be mindful resonated deep within me. My teacher antennae knew it had detected something good. So after investigating how to get a mindfulness practice going in my classroom, it became evident that I needed first to develop my own mindfulness practice. You know, kind of like how you should be able to swim yourself before you teach another to do so.

And this mindfulness practice will take some time to develop. My first step is to enroll in an MBSR 8-week training. The price for the course is over $400. This is a hefty price. However, last year I was the recipient of a two thousand dollar cash award from my school to use as I wish. My intention is to spend the money to benefit my teaching practice (which in turn, would benefit my students). I make it sound as though I’ve stashed that money away for this very purpose. The reality, however, is the money came at a much-needed time when my son’s tuition was due. I think it stayed in my bank account for maybe two days. That said, I feel I owe 2k to my own teaching practice, and participating in this course seems to qualify.

The course starts April 27th. I understand there is also some light yoga involved, which I believe I will like. (I’ve been peeking at the hot yoga schedule lately…no promises). Also, for anyone interested, Deepak Chopra and Oprah have their free 21 day meditation going on now.

Isn’t it the neatest thing when you can trace the ripple effect of a single action? I hope Smilecalm will make it back here to learn how his ‘like’ awakened me. It’s the essence of a true Bodhisattva, leading others to enlightenment. I am grateful for the guidance and filled with gratitude.

*[Side note: In the spirit of the ripple effect and just before hitting publish, I was thinking about how I tagged my last post with mindfulness because of my experience of going through my father’s last box of remaining belongings. And then it occurred to me, that as a child, my father was always, and I mean always saying to me, “Amanda, pay attention!” How ’bout that?! Who knew?]*