Category: Mindfulness Challenge for the Week

The invitation this week is to be totally mindful of your thoughts regarding getting something done quickly.  Become aware in the moment of any and all situations when you become impatient; when you want to get whatever you are doing in the moment over with quickly.

For example, when you’re driving, notice if there are situations where you say to yourself (or even out loud):

“Can’t that driver ahead of me go a little faster?”

Or situations where you are waiting for a friend to return a phone call or return an email and you say to yourself in your thoughts over and over again,

“Why doesn’t he return my call?  Why doesn’t she return my email?  I’m ready to hear from them now.” 

Or, perhaps you are out in the yard doing a little yard work.  Your thoughts are,

“I can’t wait for this task and this chore to be done so I do the fourth chore on my list. I will never be done with all my chores if I don’t finish this one in 10 minutes.”  

Now I have another suggestion for you.  Each time during the day when you are able to acknowledge, recognize and observe there is a situation where you are impatient, when you want something to get over quickly for whatever reason, I have a very simple two-word question that I’d like to suggest you ask yourself:

“Then what?” 

In other words, when I am done doing what I am doing right now, when I have finished this task,

“Then what?”

Enjoy your opportunity this week to observe any and all situations when you find that you have become impatient. I have been doing this task myself all week and am surprised by how many times I find myself being impatient.  I would have told you last week that I am a very patient person, but this week?

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

Hand watching can indeed be a fascinating pastime and hobby; it’s also a gateway into being more mindful.  To what extent are you aware of how you talk with your hands?  Do you use just the right hand or just the left hand, or like most people, do you talk with both hands?  Of course if you are a news broadcaster you have been taught to glue your hands to the desk and not talk with them.  Most people however do talk with their hands.

Be mindful this week of the extent to which you use your hands when you talk.   Watch your hands as you talk.  Watch them as they communicate with one another.  Notice whether or not you tend to use one hand more than another. If so when?

It is well known in that in Western cultures the male energy tends to be on the right side of the body and female on the left.  This seems to be reversed in Eastern cultures. Which hand is  your dominant hand when you talk?

When you want to make an important point, which hand do you point? Is it the right hand? Or, is it the left hand? Or, do you point with both hands?

Watch your hands
Notice what they say

Don’t just watch your own hands. Watch the hands of other people as they talk.  Look at their hands as they have this most intricate dance with one another or as they dance by themselves.

You are probably not paying much attention to your hands when you talk. Much of how we communicate with one another become very habitual. You’ll probably discover ways that you  communicate that were previously unknown to you when you become more mindful of how you use your hands when you express yourself.  You will likely also gain a deeper appreciation for the richness of information that is conveyed through your hands when you talk.

Enjoy being mindful of your hands this week as you are present to each and every month. Allow stress to vanish and dissolve.

Robert Rodgers

© Parkinsons Recovery