2 Critical Skills for a Mindful Lifestyle

Before getting started, many people I know are still wondering:

Why Live a Mindful Lifestyle?

To bullet point:

• Being able to simply breathe in the here and now, without problems from the past, or worries of the future, is a very simply and profoundly beautiful way of life.
• Literally, the present moment contains all your power, energy and alive-ness.

Unfortunately, Crucial instruction is left out of many mindfulness resources because, one must start with the basics when learning a new skill.

For mindfulness, the basics focus on paying attention to the present moment with nonjudgmental awareness.

At the same time, to deepen your mindfulness practice, and achieve the ultimate benefits, it is critical to learn a skill called acceptance.

Accepting the present moment – even if it sucks. This gives you the power to respond from a place of empowerment, versus reacting out of fear or other low energy emotions.

Acceptance does not mean agreement, or that you must like what is happening. Rather, acceptance means stating, beyond any doubt:

“This moment IS happening”.

And more specifically, to stand in acceptance without judgment or labels.

Acceptance is still the beginning!

The next skill you need to develop to reach the highest quality offered by a mindful lifestyle is to accept the present moment:

With full accountability:

As if you have chosen it. 

The keywords, “As if you have chosen it” are key.

True, this is a more challenging approach to mindfulness if you are in a place where you would prefer not to be.

It must be agreed though, that you have in fact chosen the exact spot you are in right now, or you would be somewhere else.

Assume accountability of the choices you have made

Of course, there may be circumstances that you did not choose.

Perhaps you are stuck in traffic and feel you did not place yourself in that position. (If this is true, please stop reading and start driving!)

However, if you had not chosen that route, you would not be in that position.

Perhaps someone has died. You most certainly did not choose that.

However, you had chosen to love, or care for that person. As painful as it is, and you can accept your grief as being your choice. That is the price for love.

To Summarize: find the deepest levels of benefits of mindfulness:

1. Accept every moment.

2. With nonjudgmental awareness and acceptance.

3. With full accountability that you chose that moment.

When you can approach the present with this level of mindfulness, then the doors of opportunity will open to you in ways that you may have never realized were possible.

And Remember:

When you add the more advanced skills of acceptance and accountability to your mindfulness activities, you will realize the space that exists in every moment to respond from the highest level of personal empowerment. And, you will learn that the point of ALL your power, is in this present moment.

Now, go forth and conquer!