In yoga, we practice mindfulness.  It might be harder to learn what this means in a peaceful yoga studio.  But in a community center it quickly becomes obvious.

Mindfulness doesn’t mean closing out all distractions.  It doesn’t mean never losing focus.  What it does mean is that when you do, you pull yourself back.

This is something we get to practice all the time at the community center.  There were the weeks on end where they were working on the roof and replacing various elements of the heating and cooling systems. There are those moments when busloads of grade school students arrive to use the pool.  Indoor voices?  Pfft!

You can’t control everything in your environment.  But you can learn not to focus on what you can’t control.  Let it go.  Exhale.  And return your focus to your breath, your pose, your inner quiet.

At the end of worship, we are encouraged to take Christ’s love into the world.  Mindfulness makes this so much easier starting in worship.

Kids to pews back making noise?  Inhale.  Exhale.  Return your focus to God.

The customer in line ahead of you can’t get her pin right?   Inhale.  Exhale.  Share a smile.  Who hasn’t forgotten a pin?

Peace, mindfulness and Christ’s love.  Seems like a combination that just might change the world.

–SueBE