Ten Mississippi to Mindfulness: The only step you need to be present today

Ready for this? This is groundbreaking. I mean it’s really gonna blow your mind. I’ve figured out how to find personal peace! Wait til Oprah gets wind of this!

One disclaimer: I didn’t say it was going to be easy. In fact, it will probably cause you some stress. You may experience some withdrawal symptoms- agitation, thought flooding, anxiety, fidgeting, craving, panic, negative self-talk, bargaining, boredom. But, you will never learn how to be mindful until you take this one step. Ready? 

Put your phone down. 

That’s what I said. PUT. IT. DOWN. 

And while you’re at it, SIT DOWN. It doesn’t matter where. 

OK, you did it! Now what? 

This. This is what. This few seconds of quiet. This moment of you being with yourself, no distractions. 

I bet I know what is happening in this moment for you, especially if this step is new to you. Your eyes are darting around. You are thinking, ok, so what? I can do this, no problem. It’s really not that big of a deal. So, am I supposed to sit here? For how long? I should probably have the tv on, or music. Am I supposed to breathe differently?  What’s for dinner? Should I stare at the wall? 

YES. STARE AT THE WALL. Stare at the wall and breathe normally for a count of ten. No, not onetwothreeseveneightten….Count like you are in first grade: One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, etc… (P.S. I don’t care if you count Mississippily or by one crocodile or by one motherf-er..we are not trying to be precise here, we are trying to buy some time).

That is all there is to it! For ten whole seconds, you were not connected to technology. You were not distracted by anything other than your own thoughts. YOU DID IT! Don’t you feel great!

What happened for you in those ten seconds?  What were your thoughts?  Did you hear anything? What did the wall look like? 

Recently, I have become acutely aware of people personally known to me, who claim to practice mindfulness yet I have never witnessed them be fully present in a conversation or a non-technology related activity. Or at least I haven’t since 2007. I have seen people who are literally “coloring” on their phones while  something really important was happening around them. When I pointed it out, one person accused me of not being “appreciative of art.” I’m gonna go on a limb here and make a judgement- color by numbers on a phone by touching a screen is not “art”, it is you distracting yourself. 

I have seen someone else scrolling on their phone while supposedly watching a documentary ABOUT MINDFULNESS. “I can do two things at once.” Can you though? Mindfulness is about presence, you can’t be simultaneously present and distracted. It is not possible. What is possible is you doing two things at the same time and not one of them well. 

Is what you’re doing on your device worth more than your mental well-being and growth? Be honest now. It is literally a choice of one or the other. 

You have to put the phone down. Just start there. It’s a really small step with huge results. 

Minimalism, in its many facets can start to unfold itself to you, if you make the space. It’s is a “one thing at a time “ sort of journey. It is intentionality versus multitasking. 

For today, putting the phone down for ten Mississippi is good enough. Yay YOU!!