Mindfulness: leave the world better than how you found it

The Japanese defines mindfulness as a moment-to-moment awareness. It is imbued into the Japanese consciousness on being fully aware of one’s current state. It also extends beyond the mind and body to other persons in awareness of the interaction of that moment. It recognizes that every moment is wholly and that it will never happen again in quite the same way. This Zen perspective asks each person to seek the highest experience in all their daily contacts and in doing so, an entire society is built on the simple notion of harmony.

But in our Western lives, it is difficult to capture this eternal moment of now, especially more so as we run after our daily bus whose driver has just slammed the door on us. Even with daily indignities, it is imperative to find a place of solace. It is not just to capture a momentary pause, but to reverse these adverse experiences so we do not pass the negativities onto another. Should this not be the pursuit of life itself?

Generally, I will not do for my daughter what she can do for herself. And I always tell her to put back the things she used or borrowed. She will see for herself that failure to do this will cause frustration and degrade the experience for the next person.

Generally, I will not do for my daughter what she can do for herself. And I always tell her to put back the things she used or borrowed. My daughter’s use of my cell phone to call her mom is a case in point. She used to walk and talk all over the house and then place the phone down at a random location when finished. It used to drive me crazy and eventually, the lesson to my daughter is no different than borrowing a book from the library: return things to the original state or better. Failure to do this will cause frustration and degrade the experience for the next person.

This simple concept has planetary implications. We are finding our ecosystem being polluted and poisoned with each successive generation. From the perspective of global warming, we are very close to the point of no return. This can’t end well for our children’s generations, who will now collectively dedicate their entire lives to reversing previous generations of carelessness. But we can slow the decline and give them a big hand if we teach them to integrate the concept of mindfulness into daily living:

• Be respectful of others. It’s not a distinction of casual vs formal, but of reverence. Being polite and courteous are table stakes. For a child, maintaining eye contact during a conversation is timeless respect.
• Being punctual means you honor the other’s time. For a child, they must learn that people do not come to them at their beck and call.
• Be cognizant that individualism exists on the same plane as collectivism and one does not preclude the other. For a child, it means, it’s not always about them.

The Japanese has a concept called Monozukuri, which is the work ethic that continually drives toward perfection. Whether it is manufacturing or playing a musical instrument, one must put in the full effort and own one’s creation. A half effort only shows degraded potential. For a child, it simply means to take the time and effort in doing anything with serious effort. This does not equate to perfection. Serious effort can still end in failure, but success can never be achieved with only half efforts.

This simple concept of mindfulness is not beyond the comprehension of many 9 year-old children. In fact, they are equally applicable to anyone with a birthday ending in ‘9’ or any other number. But the earlier the lesson to the individual, the greater the chances it will ripple out.