All the good intentions in the world can prove ineffective if we don't pay attention to what we're doing.
I see, every day, the inattentive driver, worker, parent, or client whose carelessness costs them time, money, goodwill, or good health. To me, it's incredible that people text or hold their phones while driving, and yet - even though it is illegal - I see it happening often. I see co-workers who don't read through a document before delivering it, and cost themselves the goodwill of their supervisors; or who don't clean up after themselves in the kitchen, and cost themselves the goodwill of their office mates. I see parents handing a restless child a toy to distract them instead of spending a few minutes interacting with the child. I see clients who spend time at sports or in the gym who ignore their nutrition, or who focus on strength-building at the expense of flexibility and stability.
Mindfulness is part of my yoga practice, and is one of the first principles of yoga. It is also the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which requires clients to step outside their own heads and look objectively at their actions, then to try to identify their motivation for the action, consider the consequences, and theorize about alternatives.
Most people have a sufficiently fast processing speed that they can do a CBT analysis in seconds. For people with clutter, spending, or food issues CBT is often successful in quickly and economically identifying specific triggers for problem behaviors, and building a library of new behaviors. Outside of formal therapy, simple mindfulness may be all that is needed for many people to begin to control habits of inattention that may be generating damage or distress in a person's life or environment.
Mindfulness, like most health practices, does not require a big investment of time and requires no money at all. Carelessness, on the other hand, almost always results in more time and money spent. What's more, carelessness can have serious consequences over time, whether in public safety, employability, relationships, or health. Carelessness results in unsafe driving, an ill-maintained home, poor health, damaged finances, lack of trust, and a declining environment (micro and macro).
Perhaps one way to examine mindfulness in the context of health is to apply the "golden rule" not just to those around us (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) but to ourselves (do unto myself as I would have others do unto me). For example, look at what you are about to give yourself for a meal and think, Would I want someone to serve me this? Going into the gym, think, Would I pay a trainer to tell me to walk on the treadmill for an hour? Or would I want a balanced workout?
Most habits only become problems when we cease to think about what we are doing. As Ram Dass famously wrote, "Be Here Now." Give yourself the gift of mindfulness and watch not only your effectiveness expand, but your appreciation.
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