Mindful living is a process in which we do not reflect on the past or focus on the future. We simply are one with the present moment as it happens. When we are able to take each moment as it comes, we can be less stressed, and more calm in our daily living especially parenting. We are then taking care of ourselves first, in order to take care of others.

Mindfulness stems from the non-religious practice of Buddhism. It neither relies on the concept of a deity, nor does it challenge the belief of any religious group. This may be one of the reasons Buddhism has gained such acceptance and even popularity in the West. For being Buddhist does not require anyone to renounce his or her original belief system. Buddhism can peacefully coexist with the religion you learned as a child. Buddhist practices encourage us to "look within" for our answers.

Excerpt from:"A Cry For Light: A Journey into Love"
by Janet Alston Jackson

copyright 2005 Self Awareness Trainings
Permission must be granted to be reproduced

What led me back to Spirit was the practice of mindfulness. I remember when I was first introduced to the concept the last day I worked at ABC. After leaving a small farewell party, I stopped at a bookstore in the upscale Century Plaza shopping center hoping for direction for the new life I was about to embark upon. I was standing before the spiritual section when a book literally fell off the shelf as I reached for another. This was no accident. It was a sign. I put the first book back and picked the other one off the floor. "The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hahn. This book saved my life.

I hadn't resonated with any particular teacher or church since Doctor William H. Hornaday passed away, the minister of Founder's Church of Religious Science who had married Walt and me. I just couldn't seem to connect with any of the churches that we visited. So, I stayed in bookstores looking for spiritual material and studying the religions of the world hoping for a connection and a way back to Spirit. Mindfulness is a part of Buddha's teachings.

In my studies of Jesus Christ and Buddha, I remembered thinking, they could have been brothers. Jesus and Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) both taught a moral and ethical code. They believed in life after death, heaven and reincarnation. The basic theme they both taught was love, morality, and justice. They both said we have already been given the gifts for which we search. And, both teachers gave me comfort.

I often reflected that I have every thing that I need from my higher power. My problem was that I didn't recognize my gifts. We don't realize that everything we are looking for, we are looking with. In other words, we're already whole, perfect, and complete. The challenge I faced was realizing this truth.

Mindfulness taught me how to do just that. I bought nearly all of Hahn's books, and forced myself to practice mindfulness. It's a study of how to pay attention in the moment without judgment. Being in the present is observing your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, your breath, and the sights and sounds around you. It's being here now without opinion. It's observing whatever experience we are going through without attaching opinions, judgments. This is so freeing.

Mindfulness helped me to tame what Easterners call our monkey mind, which jumps around constantly never giving us rest. I learned through mindfulness how to simply observe my thoughts and how absolutely entertaining they can be. I was amazed the first time I did this how many negative thoughts that ran over and over again in my head. These were my thoughts that were giving me grief. I learned that it's not what happens in life, it's what we think about what happens that causes the pain.

I then became aware of my feelings, which I ran from and tried to suppress with food. I didn't want to feel, especially the uncomfortable feelings. These were the first I had to work on.

Through the practice of mindfulness, I learned how to be aware of my feelings that I ran from. How to be aware of my thoughts that plagued me, and how to focus on whatever action I was doing to find peace. I found that my mind calmed and I wasn't as scattered or fearful.