It's Not the Destination, But the Journey

Last year, just about this time, I was preparing for my first motorcycle trip Sturgis, SD for the world's largest motorcycle rally (there were an estimated one million bikes there). It was a "bucket list" thing.  I was going to be riding from the Dallas area with about five others. I had just purchased my 2015 Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited touring bike and was excited. As I was discussing the ride plans with another person in the group, she was talking about how she likes to ride fast and wanted to cover so much ground in the first day of the two we were taking to make it to Sturgis. I found myself replying, "I'm not riding to Sturgis to get there. For me it is the journey and not the destination."

Rewind the tape back about six years. I am attending a workshop on Mindfulness in Psychotherapy at my professional organization's annual conference. Not sure now why I was drawn to this particular topic, but chalk it up to just being open to new things. In the course of the two hour presentation the presenter stated that if we ever took up mindfulness practice, we would never give it up. I decided to take that challenge and went home with a commitment to do a formal sitting meditation just two minutes a day. I don't think I lasted even a few days. And I didn't give it much thought afterwards.

Now fast forward two years. I am back at the same organization's annual conference (gotta get those CEU's) and this same presenter is again offering a workshop on mindfulness. And she makes the same challenge! So off I go again with a renewed commitment to "follow my breath in and out" for just two minutes a day. But this time I did more than that. I began to devour several books (mostly by Buddhist monks), watch Ted talks by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and other's in the Western culture of Psychology (NO! not the cowboy boots and horses type, just in contrast to the Eastern philosophies from which mindfulness emanated), and kept on breathing.

After a time (exactly how long I don't recall), someone commented to me one day that I seemed happier. It was at that moment that I realized that I was gaining some benefit from this mindfulness thing. I had graduated past just sitting and breathing to incorporating mindful living into my lifestyle. I didn't quite put it all together at first, but I was training my brain to pay more attention. And I got to choose what to pay attention to. For instance, driving the same monotonous road to work each day became 20 minutes of pleasure as I began to notice things that were always there, I was just missing them. Usually because I was caught up in the whirling derby of endless thoughts about getting to work, getting my files ready for the day, expressing my frustration with the slow driver in front of me ( I won't say how I expressed that frustration), worrying about meeting a deadline, ruminating about some injustice someone had done to me...I bet you understand. It is an experience common to most all of us who are not 24-hour-a-day inhabitants of a Buddhist monastery.

As I ventured farther into the mindfulness territory, I began to find more and more applications of mindful living to my life experience. Not only did it help me to "slow down and smell the roses," but it helped me become more aware of things I needed to change. Remember that slow driver? One morning he was an old farmer lumbering ahead of me on one of the back roads I traveled each day. I don't tolerate slow very well when I am in the fast mode. But today would be different. As I became aware of my immediate frustration with the situation (in neuroscience we might call this an 'emotional hijacking'), I said to myself, "Self, here is an opportunity to learn patience." So I shifted (not the gears of my truck, the gears of my mind). I took that now familiar deep breath. I turned up the radio a notch, and I noticed the cool breeze coming through the window. Next thing I know, I am just about to the highway and the old farmer is nowhere in sight. He must have turned off somewhere, I just didn't' notice (or care). I was calm. I was content. And, I had nothing bad to confess.

I have plenty of these stories. But I want to get to the point (hope you aren't getting frustrated with my slowness). As I have progressed the last several years with my interest in mindfulness, it has taken a predictable direction. I didn't convert to Buddhism. Instead my interest peaked in the idea that mindfulness concepts and practices could potentially be integrated with my Christianity (after all, why should Buddhist's have all the fun). If mindfulness could increase my moment-by-moment awareness, could I use it to become more aware of God? Isn't Sanctification a journey and one I could be more innately aware of? Could  my experience of prayer, Bible study, fellowship, confession be enhanced in some way by mindfulness?

Hence this blog. It is my shared journey of what I have chosen to call Christmindfulness.
I hope you will ride along with me and invite others. But don't expect me to go too fast. For me it is the journey and not the destination.

What are your "vitals?"

In my last post, I stated that I wanted to pursue the notion of using mindfulness as a tool to adding more vitality to my Christian life. Again, I have chosen to call this Christmindfulness. The very essence of the word vitality has to do with being alive. When paramedics are called to the scene of someone in distress, one of the first things they do is check for vital signs (often shortened to just "vitals"). Is the person breathing, is their heart beating, what is there blood pressure, and what is there body temperature? Stands to reason - you can't have vitality of life if you are dead. However, being alive is not guarantee enough of vitality either. I am fearful that there are plenty of the "walking dead" among those who say they follow Jesus (I would include myself in that category in times past). We have lots of names for this: "Luke warm;" "Nominal Christian;" "Sunday Believers;" "Fire Insurance Christians."  Yet a 'rose by any other name'... I trust that no one who becomes a follower of Christ sets out to be found lacking vital signs. We just seem to miss something.

Jesus said, "I came that they might have life and have it to the full." (John 10:10 NIV). This has been termed by many, "the abundant life." Note here that the context of this verse is a scene where Jesus has just healed a blind man. The Pharisees, having heard of this healing act by Jesus, question the blind man. When they didn't like his answers, they curse him and throw him out. Jesus hears of this and seeks out the man to explain a greater healing miracle than restoring sight. The Pharisees overhear this conversation and begin to question Jesus. He uses the Good Shepherd analogy and makes a contrast between those who come to steal (thieves) and himself - the one who comes to give a life full of vitality (my take on the abundant life).

You might be saying just now, "Thanks for the Bible lesson, but I came to this blog to hear about mindfulness."  Patience, grasshopper! I am getting there in due time. But first, I want to say more about vitality. Jesus' words in John 10:10b are important to this concept of vitality as I intend it.
Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament indicate that these word of Jesus are in the Greek present active subjunctive. Since I have forgotten much of 8th grade grammar, Robertson, thankfully, explains that this means that this is an ongoing possibility ("may keep on having").
In other words we both "may keep on having life" (i.e.' eternal life) and "we may keep on having" a full life (i.e.; abundance, vitality). The key in all of this, Robertson goes on to explain, is that this Jesus is the one who sustains this full life.

Now to my point. I have dedicated this blog to the idea of having Christmindfulness.  Literally, this implies that mindfulness is a tool that helps me create greater awareness and I use that awareness as a spiritual tool to more "constant contact" with Christ, particularly through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Triune God breathed life into the first man (Gen. 2:7), being more mindfully in contact with God breathes (a sustaining overflow) life into me, hence vitality. With my increased awareness, which is a direct benefit of mindful practice, I can moment-to-moment check my vital signs.

Next blog, as previously promised, I will talk about my own experience with learning mindfulness and the resultant vitality I believe it is bringing to my spiritual life. But you have to come back for that. So, become a regular follower and, please, tell others who might have a similar interest.

How can the Christian benefit from Mindfulness practice

In my last post I made a simple argument for why Christians should not be unnecessarily fearful or suspect of something because another system of thought (i.e.; religion) has brought it to the forefront of our attention. We can think Christianly about things that are discovered through other than Scriptural means (what some have referred to as the "Works of God" as contrasted with the "Word of God). Miguel Cervantes (you might recognize the name- he authored Don Quixote) said, "Where the truth is, in so far as it is truth, there God is." If there is any truth in mindfulness concepts, then it rightly belongs to God and is potentially useful to me.

Neuroscience has brought us new horizons over which we can peer into the truth that may lie in mindfulness as originally postulated by the teachings of the Buddha. Indeed, it is the migration of these teachings from East to West that has given rise to the opportunity to empirically investigate some of the attested advantages of mindfulness and related meditative arts (i.e.; yoga, for instance).
And neuroscience has done just that. Brain research, aided by the advent of the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and its cohort the fMRI (functional MRI), has been able to show a direct correlation between those who practice mindfulness regularly and such outcomes as:

• Decreased stress
• Reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, pain, and insomnia
• Enhanced ability to pay attention
• Increased quality of life.

It is this last one that I am particularly interested in exploring in this blog site: increased quality of life. In almost all of the studies on mindfulness, even after a very short sequence (typically an eight week training regimen in mindfulness such as used in Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction program), most subjects have reported  an increase in happiness and overall well-being.*

Who could argue with feeling happier and more content with their life without having to change any of the circumstances of that life? Now, I am not suggesting that mindfulness practice is the only way to get contentment (after all, none less than the Apostle Paul himself stated that he was "learning in whatever situation I am to be content." Philippians 4:11 [ESV] ). I am suggesting that it might enhance my ability to do this in some fashion.

I would like to think of this as having a more vital Christian life. And trust me on this, after 38+ years as a Psychotherapist who identified as a Christian-based provider of mental health services, I have seen many a professing Christian who did not seem to be experiencing much vitality in their lives.

Personally I like that word vitality. Dictionary.com defines it as: "capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence." Merriam-Webster.com adds, "the power of enduring." Is this not the very essence of the Christian life? God, the Father, through Jesus, the Son, and orchestrated by the Holy Spirit is what (in a Christian worldview) gives purpose to our existence.

Working through this same Holy Spirit that indwells us to empower us to endure (the parallel Christian concept is perseverance), God thus provides us opportunity to live a vital life.

This will be for another future post, but let me just say, in ending this post, that I am interested in exploring the notion (and hearing yours if you care to comment) that training this magnificent three pound, 2.69 square foot area-sized organ made up of over 100 billion neurons through this concept called mindfulness  (which, if it is truth, then I say with Cervantes, "there is God") and using this to bring more vitality to my walk with Christ ( I am going to term this Christmindfulness, though I am quite sure I am not the first to use the term). 

Walk with me on this path, if you will. Become a follower and "keep coming back."

* I will discuss my own experience with this in a future blog post.