Being Mindful

Last weekend, I caught myself thinking about one thing while doing another. Trust me, I find myself doing this all the time! Yet, this time was different; it was more significant because for the first time, I changed my response.
 
I stopped my thought, realized what I was doing, and redirected my thoughts to my activity.
 
I was being mindful of the moment. Really, really mindful of directing my thoughts to the task at hand.
Domestic violence and faith: Being MindfulThe implication of this one time redirecting my thoughts at first caught me off guard. Then, I realized I just took a huge step forward! A solid step forward in putting up a barrier to my crazy, residual, PTSD, random thought process. It’s one thing to know what I am supposed to be focused on the task at hand, yet it is totally something else to actually catch myself doing it!
 
Imagine the feeling: for those few moments, my mind was calm. My mind and body were connected to the same task. My mind was focused on the task I was performing, not to the other random thoughts that usually room around my head. Shockingly, I felt my body and mind synced up together.
 
Experiencing this goal brought about a unique, tranquil feeling to my day. I’ve spent years and years searching for this one moment; this one connection of my body and mind.
 
I don’t know why this day was unique. I don’t know why after all these years my efforts at calming down my thoughts came together at this one moment in time.
 
But here’s what I do know: having experienced this tranquility, I want more of it. I want my mind and body to be in sync. I want to be more situationally aware of what I am doing and less distracted from random thoughts. I want this calmness to become my new state of mind, not a random, once in a life time experience.
 
Maybe some of the things I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts (sorry to my reoccurring readers) are what pushed me to this new experience. Things like:

Spending time outside actively listening to the birds, staring at the beautiful pictures the clouds are making, and looking at the wonderful flowers blossoming all while thanking God for these beautiful things instead of letting my thoughts race around Spending time on God. Doing my morning devotions, starting a prayer journal, while reading the Book of Proverbs with my bible study friends Limiting my time on social media, reading the news, and being attached to my text app on my phone; calling friends and family members to TALK, make sure they are okay, and offer an ear for those who are hurting 
I really don’t know why last Saturday was the day my mind and body connected in a new way. But here’s what I do know; if I seek God first, He’ll send me a confirmation that He’s close by. And last Saturday’s confirmation was so uplifting!
 
Prayers of safety are being sent to all, 
 
Sue 
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Instead of living for the moment, I spent the first few years of being a single mom hoping and praying that I could get through the day. There was always so much to be done while raising my three little children. My head was constantly racing prioritizing what needed to be done versus what was going to be put off till tomorrow. Driving my children to their events, homework, dinner routine, laundry, and cleaning the kitchen often sent me into a spiral of tears.Read More