mindfulnessby John Cardinale

“Be thankful when you don’t know something for it gives you the opportunity to learn.” -~Unknown

During my service in the military I had some downtime; I decided to spend it studying different forms of religion. While researching Buddhism, I came to discover meditation.

In the following weeks I dedicated much time to learning the art. After a few weeks of strenuous commitment I gave up. With high expectations going in I’d set myself up for failure.

A month later, while walking down an open back road near my home, it hit me like a freight train: I was without thought. Total clarity had consciously awakened me like a thief in the night.

The world around me seemed to slow for an eternity. The landscape, the trees, the fields of green and even the pavement suddenly became bright as the stars–a high definition alternate reality of scenery I thought I knew, as I’d taken this road so many times before.

Clarity and a still mind changed my conscious perception of everything. The leaves on the trees, full of vibrancy and radiance. The wind, so underappreciated throughout my life. Beautiful in its invisibility, it surrounded every fiber of my body with its ice cold caress.

The pavement seemed to awaken; every pebble amongst the black river of tar gleamed. The sounds of nature resonated a thousand times louder than ever before.  Without thought I was capable of absorbing it all with presence and peace.

Though I lived in that moment with joy and glory, fear eventually snapped me back to thought. It was as if clarity felt too pure to handle for more than a few seconds.

I couldn’t help wondering: have we succumbed to living in a constant cycle of thought processes? Even while sleeping our minds stay in turmoil. Have we adapted to this way of living because society requires it? Are we so displaced from our true state of being that brief seconds submerged in purity and peace create a type of fear?

I can only imagine how living in the moment, without constantly evaluating and analyzing, would change our perception of ourselves.

My experience showed me just how thick a blindfold was covering my conscious vision. It makes the world seem like little more than a background to our ceaseless thinking; a blurry panaroma that passes before our eyes as we focus on things that won’t really matter at the end of it all.

Most people don’t find enough peace amongst the chaos to live in the moment. Minute to minute, day by day, we get wrapped up in contemplation about tomorrow and the details of our lives.

We must take back this moment. Not just to experience it, but also to discover ourselves. We are far more than the thoughts that bind us. Until we clear our heads, listen to the truest nature of things without opinion, and take in all that is, we will not find ourselves as we were meant to be.

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