The Sound of Mindfulness

Turning off the shower at 2.15am, I hear something for the very first time - the sound of mindfulness; the sound of the ticking of a small clock on a shelf in the bathroom. I had no idea it ticked so "loudly". The ticking was highlighted by the still of the night, by my mind silenced by the stillness. It was amazing how definite and crisp the ticking sounded - without the sound of the running shower, without the chatter of my mind's thoughts.

It made me wonder what other wonders I'd been missing in daily life.

What is the sound of mindfulness? It is the sound of whatever is around here and now. Miss the sound of here and now and you miss that much of your real life, which can only happen here and now. We are partially deaf when we are not totally aware of all the sounds of here and now. In the same way we are blind... and numb in the other senses.

When was the last time you looked up and marvelled at a starry night? Do you SEE the myriad colours and shapes in all you see? Do you stop and SMELL the scent of the roses? Do you TASTE the rich flavours of every meal? Do you FEEL and enjoy the hot shower at the end of a hard day's work? And perhaps more importantly, are you mindful of your mind, of your thoughts and feelings? Without mental mindfulness, there is no mindfulness of the senses.

If you are often not mindful of here and now, you are seldom truly alive - for only here and now can you live, not elsewhere, in the past or future. Do you bask in the light of mindfulness? Do you savour it?

The next night, while I was waiting for the bus, I looked for the moon, searching for the familiar white disc which breaks the blank emptiness of the night sky. I became mindful that I was searching for something to fill the momentary emptiness, the existential hollowness of my heart. With that, a thought came to mind- "When you gaze at the cloudless sky, you either see the emptiness of the sky (xu|kong|) or the emptiness of your heart (kong|xu|)." Just being mindful of this made me feel better. I am not lost. The lost are not aware. After being aware of my spiritual emptiness in the moment, I am already searching for my way out. Lo! Behold! Listen! Don't get lost in this moment. Pay attention! What sound of mindfulness are you missing now?

Shiqin01@hotmail.com, from a posting at The Daily Enlightenment.com (Slightly edited)