Taken from http://www.mindfulnet.org/
Living in the Moment &
Awakening to Experience
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Monday, May 2, 2016
Post 264
“Mindfulness is a state of active,
open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts
and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of
letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and
awakening to experience” (What is Mindfulness?,
1994-2016). Having understood the extension of mindfulness, how often do
you contemplate yourself at work without judging your thoughts and feelings?
Very Often? Do you judge the others, too?
You are bound to find yourself
answering this question in many different ways depending on the moment the
above question is asked and answer. As a teaching professional, I oftentimes
ask myself if I am living in the moment
and awakening to experience while
teaching a class, lecturing, and designing learning tasks for my students. Though
I must confess that I often get off track from mindfulness, I have had my
experiences also attending meetings at both of my workplaces, or even when I have
virtual meetings with faculty members from other universities.
My very last moment of mindfulness as
a teaching professional in ELT was a few days ago when taking part of a
meeting. Though several thoughtful suggestions were presented to the person in
charge of our meeting, they were not really considered. I felt rather ignored
in various moments of the meeting, and then I told myself: “Live in the moment
and awake to experience.” By doing so, I began to rearrange my priorities in
that very moment; as Markway (2014) posits, “what
is trivial emerges as such, and can be ignored.” And that was exactly what
magically happened; mindfully speaking, knowing that I was not meant to be
heard, the whole event became trivial and then ignoring the whole incident was
what took place and began to contemplate myself from afar and how the other
participants interacted.
At that very
moment I experienced what Markway (2014) calls “a sense of liberation.” When
becoming fully mindful of what was going on in my surroundings, I was “able to choose
not to do those things [I] do not wish to do” (Markway, 2014). I guess most of
us teachers, who tend to be the center of our explanations while lecturing or
showing how something is done, feel when others are not attentive to what one
is trying to say. It was in this exact point where I decided not to feel hatred
or anger; I decided that I was going to ignore the triviality of the moment to
simply contemplate the participants from a prudent distance to understand that
decisions were made by others and that I had no participation whatsoever.
Though the
last statement may sound like I gave no value to what was happening, it was an
incredible epiphany for me, but not for the others, especially for the
authoritative speaker. This became, at least for me, a moment to understand
that there must be “fewer interpersonal fears” and “less concern about
rejection,” as also stated by Dr. Markway (2014). That is, I decide not to judge
myself from external standards, especially those that are imposed by figures in
power positions; I decide to open myself to “greater willingness to take risks
than before the crisis” (Markway, 2014) I was now confronting. I came to the
realization that it was simply trivial to take part of a one-way conversation
when there was no chance to be heard nor to have one’s ideas discussed. “If I know
this was the last day on earth, would I choose to spend it worrying about this?
(Markway, 2014); no way!!
I have a great conviction that living in the moment and awakening to experience is the way to
bear the “bitter” moments we get to experience in our teaching, professional
lives. I am more than convinced that I will never be a person who will ever
suffer from athazagoraphobia, that irrational “fear of being forgotten or
ignored” by those who are in power positions. Life is not meant to be lived to
honor these narcissistic personalities who are not mindful of their surroundings
and who are the ones that can be labeled as athazagoraphobic. Being mindful of
what I have just written helps me see that I need to continue contemplating
life to really achieve a sense of complete liberation with “fewer interpersonal fears” and “less concern about
rejection” because, professionally, one is appreciated by many and, personally,
one is loved by many as well.
References
Markway, B. (2014, January 9). A Surprising Way to Cultivate Contentment. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-the-questions/201401/surprising-way-cultivate-contentment
What is Mindfulness? (1994-2016). Obtenido de Psychology Today:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/mindfulness
Monday, May 02, 2016
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