Random Thoughts

March 20, 2017

Mindfullness

Have you ever worried about stuff?

I remember many times spending hours lying in bed worrying and worrying about stuff. I worried about the kids, about the bills, about work either I had too much and couldn't cope or I didn't have enough and was afraid of being broke, I worried about money, to be honest I never really worried about having too much money but so often worried about not having enough, basically I suppose you could say I worried about birth, death and everything in between.

I came from a family of worriers, it was a tradition in our family to worry. It was what you do.

I bet I'm not the only one who is like that.

You know whats funny is most of the stuff I worried about never even happened.

I lost sleep, I often felt sick, I was exhausted, I wasn't able to think straight and most of it never happened.
IT NEVER HAPPENED. How mad is that?

Talk about wasting my time and my energy.

In the workshops I do for my work I often ask people do they practice mindfulness or meditation lots of people say NO; then I ask them have they ever worried, well over 90% of people I ask say yes of course I have worried, what a stupid question, we are Irish its our national pastime. Have you ever lost sleep worrying, YES of course we have, Have you ever felt sick worrying? YES we have. Have you ever actually gotten sick worrying? So many times people say YES. My last question is a humdinger, did you ever do all that worrying, lose sleep, feel sick, even get sick and the thing you were worrying about never even happened. With very little energy left the answer is so often YES.

How sad! How sad that we have our lives hijacked, our energy robbed, our hope destroyed and our futures and destinies derailed by a despicable ugly thought pattern called WORRY.

The secret to mindfulness is in the name, MIND-FULL-NESS
What is my mind full of, Worry is like a disaster movie playing on repeat in 3D in my mind, and every time I play the movie the bigger the disaster gets. The answer is not to empty my mind and sit in some weird position and hum and tinkle; it is to fill my mind with something different. Our minds do not work in a vacuum, if I push a worrying thought away something will fill its place, so I need to choose what that something will be, or else I will fall into my usual pattern of thinking and worrying.

Philippians 4:8 Tells me this

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS:

Jesus said Don't worry, I know, I know you think it was Bob Marley who came up with that for his song, but it wasn't, Jesus said it first. 'Don't worry', He said, 'its a waste of time', he said, you can't change anything worrying He said, Stop worrying it's no good, look for God and His kingdom and He will take care of you. It's in Matthew 6:25-34, well worth a read if you have a moment.

So heres the deal I think, if worrying doesn't work and I think if we are all honest with each other we can admit it doesn't. Then maybe it might be worth trying something different. Maybe we could try the same skill as worrying, which many of us have perfected over the years, but just change the subject matter.

Instead of the disaster movie playing on repeat, lets put the promise of God on repeat, lets think about the good, the true, the noble the lovely, lets fill our minds with the wonders of creation around us, lets look for and see the good in people, maybe some days we have to look harder but it's worth it.

Lets take every breath mindfully in an attitude of gratitude for being alive, lets eat mindfully in gratitude for our provision. Lets talk with friends or family in gratitude for each and every one of them being in our lives and finally lets remember all of the goodness that has been poured out on our lives even when it did not feel like it and lets fill our minds up with how much we are loved and accepted by God.

That is mindfulness, that is meditation, that is Kingdom living and that is Freedom, REAL FREEDOM.

I pray you experience it every day. God bless b