Last Sunday, when I was ironing school uniforms and office shirts for the week ahead, I was listening to one of my mindfulness/migraine-related-podcasts. It’s something I started doing when I DJ-mixed-up my life’s playlist: do a not-so-favorite chore at the same time as another activity that you’re keen on; old with new, good with bad, as it were.
Anyway – the podcast that I listed to was an interview between Oprah Winfrey (who needs no introduction) and Jon Kabat-Zinn (who is a pioneer in mindfulness for pain relief).
(Here’s the podcast on Spotify: Jon Kabat-Zinn: Mindfulness 101 – Oprah’s Super Soul | Podcast on Spotify)
(And here’s the playlist of all the podcasts I’ve been collecting that have helped me heal: Migraine podcasts – playlist by TheMindfulMigraine.Blog | Spotify)
Anyway, anyway – about one third of the way through the interview, Dr Kabat-Zinn said something in passing that really jumped out at me. I didn’t write it down, so I might be a bit off target, but it was something to the effect of; “there’s an old cliché that we are human BEINGS not human DOERS… our purpose in life is to BE not to DO.”
He then went on to say something like, “remember that early humans ended the day beside the fire, all staring into the embers, daydreaming, listening to each other tell stories, feeling the warmth on their skin, perhaps half-listening out for unusual sounds from beyond the firelight’s halo… there was nothing to do… they just enjoyed that moment for what it was… they were just being themselves.”
Dr Kabat-Zinn spoke of it in passing, but for me, it made me stop and have a massive ah-ha moment. I am always DOING something, or waiting until I can finish doing this something so I can move on to doing something different, half the time when I daydream, I’m dreaming of doing something dreamy…
Mindfulness is a reminder to stop doing, and just BE.
Be present.
Be aware.
Be grateful.
Be curious.
You can still do things, but be in the moment when you do it.
It sounds simple, and sometimes it is. Sometimes I feel like everything I do is close to a moving meditation.
Other times, not so much. Ironing while listening to a podcast – that’s kind of double-doing… but sometimes I hit pause and take a moment to let the words sink in. I stop ironing, I recheck in on my posture (am I in Power-pose mode or doing Pug-puppy-face?), I check in on my breath. For a few moments, I just am who I am. I’m just being me in the moment…
And then I go back to ironing-listening-learning, and double-do-doing.
Later in the conversation, Ms Winfrey remembered something Dr Kabat-Zinn had said to her in a previous interview that had stayed with her: “when you’re in the shower, just be in the shower… don’t be in thinking about the past, don’t be forecasting yourself into the future, don’t be in the board room, or in the midst of your last fight… just be in the shower!”
Concentrate on the sensation of water, of warmth, (or ‘coolth’), listen to the sound of falling water, watch which way the water spirals down the drain.
The past is finished, the future can wait, and you sure as heck don’t need to be surrendering a moment of serenity to your mental itty bitty sh!tty committee and their board members!
I think my chronic migraines are a consequence (at least in part) of becoming a constantly busy, Human Doer.
I want to be a Human Being.
I’m not sure exactly how to be a Human Being and make sure the ironing all gets done, but I’m going to give it my best shot… when I iron-listen-learn, I’ll iron-listen-learn, I’ll call my mind back into the moment and ask it not to drift off into the past or the future or cringey boardroom-showers.
And if I can do it (…do being?…) then so can you!
Take care my lovely fellow human beings, Linda x
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