Summer Holiday 2012: Hiking in Yunnan, China
Have you noticed how disruptive vacations can be? Of course that is part of their appeal: to do something different, to explore new vistas, to get out of a rut. But a holiday can also mean we lose our good habits and have to start creating them again.
Following my long summer holiday, I got back to work in Hong Kong feeling a bit blah. The reason was that I had let my mindfulness practice slip, not completely, but I was not practising with the rigour and regularity that I had been used to earlier this year.
It’s interesting to note that since I have restarted my regular morning practice, I feel more eager about my work, and more hopeful about my world. Life is good again. What a difference it makes to clear the mind and abide in the present moment with myself.
As I reflect on the leaders who most inspire me: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi and others, I know that they could not continuously live as such consistent forces for positive change without a daily practice that supports them to be at their very best. It is their ability to model the world they envision, despite great challenges, that allows them such incredible influence. In other words, their ‘not doing’, their mindfulness, their quiet discipline, has enormous power to influence. I’m encouraged to note that I do not need more time or more energy to exert more influence. I simply need to maintain a clearer connection to what is good and right.
How gratifying it is to know that simply by doing my best at my mindfulness training, I am doing my part to move the world towards its potential.
And as I write this in public, I strengthen my resolve to practice! Will you join me? How will you strengthen your core capacities this fall?
If starting, or enhancing a mindfulness training practice is part of your plan, please consider joining our seminar series this fall.