Prescription for an interior life

Mindfulness is a buzzword in education today.  Is is just a "flavor of the day" or something to, well - mind?   It's been defined as "paying attention on purpose." Being mindful is to be fully aware of feelings, thoughts, and sensations.  It's accomplished by intentionally focusing physical and mental attention on the present moment.   Nearly everyone has the capacity to do this, but today's hyper-stimulating, often competing realities very easily drive us to distraction and make this seemingly simple skill increasingly out of reach for many - especially our children, who were born into an always-on world and often experience heavy doses of adult-directed activity.

Children are arriving to school, ironically, more able to read, but less able to self-regulate activity or emotion, to sustain attention to task, to think deeply, to persist through problems.  So, though mindfulness training has long been a therapeutic technique, it has worked its way into schools in a big way in recent years to combat these challenges.  Teachers are learning mindfulness exercises to do with their classes. Programs are popping up and specialists coming in to work with teachers or deliver instruction directly to students.  Mindfulness sessions have even replaced after-school detention in some schools with impressive results.  I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to observe a classroom mindfulness lesson taught to our first graders by two of our school parents who are mental health professionals.  It has provoked me to think a lot about why our children - all of us, really - need this.

The simple truth is that people who have the skills to be fully present  - to a task, to others, to their own thoughts - are more intelligent, less anxious, more content, more productive, more successful. The reality of our daily experiences, however, can create a dependency on stimulation and be a powerful force against inner awareness.  As with anything, mindfulness is more readily achievable when we practice.  I've come to the conclusion that we should all be practicing a bit more.  (There are even apps for this!) And what better time to begin than in this beautiful season of Lent?

Wednesday marked the beginning of the liturgical season that culminates in Jesus' death on the cross. As we journey through this special time, we are invited to to take up the crosses of our human imperfection and follow Jesus ever closer to Eternity.  The Church gives us a formula for this 40-day journey that can be likened to spiritual mindfulness:  pray, fast, give of self to others.  All of these take planning, intentionality, full physical and mental presence.

The ultimate goal of our Lenten practices is, of course, to draw closer to God.  We don't need to be intellectual theologians to do this.  We accomplish it most profoundly by simply being with him in that quiet inner space that holds his spirit.  Words are not always necessary in an intimate relationship, but awareness is, mindfulness is.  Make the time to work on an interior life.   And teach your children to do the same.  The practice of fully attending to what really matters will "seep into the pockets of your heart" and bring a peaceful contentment to every area of your life.