How’s your mood? Whether we feel angry or bored, the practice of kind attention can bring us back in touch with our gentle Jesus.
In Christian mindfulness, the practice brings prayer, centering and intentional observation together as one. Here’s one way to accomplish this:
- Quiet yourself. Breathe in and out, paying attention to the sensations, around 10 times.
- Lift your heart to the Lord. Call out, if necessary. The Lord knows how you feel. But you may not be aware of all of it. Pay attention to your emotions as you pour them out. Neither fight them nor feed them. Again, the Lord already know how you feel. Begin to bring kind attention to it.
- After you pour out your emotions, especially if they are tumultuous, pray the Serenity Prayer. The complete version of the Serenity Prayer is here.
- Once you have shifted to inner calm, start to pay kind attention to the things around you. Where do you see the hand of God? In a pet, a rock, a tree, a piece of art? Can you see “that of God” in the people around you?
- As you begin to move back into your daily activities, stay in the present moment and continue to observe it … and your feelings … with kindness.