A Kinder Way Wednesday: Gentle Mindfulness

Years ago, back when I was in college, I took classes in Yoga and meditation. Those classes set me on a path, and I'm so glad I took them. I have not practiced Yoga consistently, and I've deviated from some of those lessons I learned during meditation, but overall I still hold onto some of those basic teachings.

One of the exercises in the meditation class asked us to be mindful of our movements. We were to be fully aware of each thing we did and how we did it.
One example was this:
When setting the table, we were supposed to mindfully set the silverware in its place.  The idea was to become more self aware.

I tried this and pretended in my mind that everything I touched, whether living or non-living, had feelings. I asked myself , if I were a fork how would I prefer to be placed onto a hard surface? Would I want to be tossed, set down with force, slid across the table, thrown onto a plate?

Of course there are things that must be forced, such as car doors, and certain other things. But the point of the exercise was not necessarily to be gentle with each and every thing, but to become mindful of ourselves and how we move through our environments.

It's easy to get caught up in the hectic pace of life and lose the mindfulness, but I find that the more mindful I am of what I am doing, the kinder I become.