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Out of My Mind: Mindfulness as a Believer


Mindfulness is all the rage and has taken center stage as the provider of peace in our present out of whack world.  

Does mindfulness for mindfulness sake, simply makes us "out of our mind," I wonder? 

Emptying our mind only makes us empty and without the true provider of lasting peace.  

Peace that exists when everything is falling apart.  Peace that passes any understanding.  Peace that is outside of any mindful activity we can pursue or any mindfulness we accept.

Mindlessness is lazy, apathetic and dangerous!  It is not thinking at all.  Merely, going with whatever happens.

Mindfulness in the eastern flavors and religions in my understanding empties the mind because it does not believe in a God who can be known.  Buddhism, from what I've read, is total presence to the moment.  I'm trying to understand this and wonder if it is a laying aside of the mind?  To separate us from our thoughts?

Again...out of our minds!

Can mindfulness exist in a believer?  Can mindfulness be  "the practice of the presence of God?"  This practicing is in "cultivating alertness to one of the many ways God is present and relating to that presence by brief acts of recognition and prayer." (Larkin, Earnest E.)  Recollection and remembrance of all God has done is an old discipline. 

 Larkin states that "mindfulness offers the missing piece, namely, a real presence to what is doing at a given moment.  Mindfulness emphasizes the presence of our total selves in the moment."

Saint Therese of Lisieux is an example.  Hans Urs von Balthasar says the following about her:

 "At each moment, her sole concern is to carry out the will of God as it was revealed to her second to second...Therese never tries to dominate the course of events.  
In a very womanly fashion, she simply tries to receive everything, and to receive it loving.  For her, every moment comes so fresh and immediately from the hand of God...
(Therese writes:) 'I just keep concentrating on the present moment.  I forget the past and preserve myself from worries about the future."

Dr. Linda Mintle states in her article, "The Christian Practice of Mindfulness:"
 
"For Christians, mindfulness is an active process between God and man. God is mindful of us (Psalm 8:4; Hebrews 2:6) and we are to put on the mind of Christ. To do so, we meditate on who God is and listen to Him in prayer. 
Daily, we renew our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.(Roms 12:2), love God with all our mind (Matt 22:37) and implant God’s laws into our minds (Heb 8:10).
 Meditation is a way to connect with God, to cling to God, to listen for His voice and to align our thinking to His. This creates greater intimacy not detachment."
 
(Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/doinglifetogether/2011/07/the-christian-practice-of-mindfulness.html#ixzz2hiStD1CX




So is it o.k. as a believer or a Christian to practice God's presence?  To strive to "Be still and Know that He is God?"  To be with those we love and practice the discipline of presence and mindfulness in every area of our life?

I believe we have to come together with God in order to really know Him.  To seek His presence and His help in drawing near Him and knowing Him.  

Through this practice, we become better in all of our relationships in the setting ourselves aside and unselfishness, reflectively and with empathic awareness...

 BE WITH our loved ones.


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