Mindfullness is it not just Prayer in disguise

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This morning while having Breakfast  (Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for those who want to know) I was watching as usual the News. On it's Friday morning slot I was watching a thing on New apps. This week I ears pricked up at the conversation. This chap had made an app for us to slow down and meditate. Or as modern commentators like to call is mindfulness. So here is the definition I have found on this "new" concept. " A mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique." I have unpacked this thought about it. Read about it and now I realise that this can be defined by one simple word and that is yes you got it one Prayer. 

I think that this modern thinking on meditation and mindfulness is a God given opportunity by the Church and  Christian communities to talk about Prayer. For me it is one of the most powerful tools I have. IT is something that in prayer I come into the present moment. But rather than an intellectual exercise I discover and get in touch with the Divine with the one that loves me God. I therefore have always practised mindfulness and the present moment is a sacrament. As one writer called it" The Sacrament of the Present Moment." Prayer helps me do this to see each moment as God given. To talk to my God and seek his help. Take God out of this concept and you are left with mindfulness a good exercise but ultimately just an exercise and a good exercise in de stressing the body. 

The challenge for the Christian community and lets face it any religious community is to place the higher being in this mindfulness. For me this new fad is not new at all it is placing a modern name on something that people have done for centuries. 

I think that t also shows me that there is a desire in every human being for meaning. To put our lives in some sort of context. It proves to me that we all have a desire for a higher being what some call a "God Spot." When we recognize that we have a God spot we can then think slightly harder about the mindfulness that many people have.      

 On watching the News this morning (23rd June) I noticed a piece on Mindfulness coming into schools and that it had been rolled out to some schools in Cumbria. Again I allowed myself to think that in faith schools we have this God given prayer which does the same job to place ourselves and calm down and listen to ourselves and God. I wonder if as a Christian community we should start telling people about the power and the benefits of prayer.

 So I am now going to suggest away five easy steps

 1. Find a comfortable chair and sit with both feet on the floor
2. Close your eyes with your hands on your lap.
3. Breath deeply drawing in the name of Jesus.
4. Stop and listen.

 Practice it for a few minutes each day. What you will notice when you do it every day that you are praying for longer and longer. And you feel very rested afterwards and you are praying to the one who loves you and lives in you and the one who created you. So it becomes less about you and more about God and our love for him.   

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