In the practice of Mindful Christianity, we contemplate that the past and future exist only in our minds. We realize the present moment is the only time that exists to experience the hope of true peace and contentment.
When we pursue living fully aware of each moment, almost everything in our culture works in opposition to accomplishing that goal. In Western culture, there is an emphasis upon our mind and intellect and our thoughts being separate from our body and being. To fully live in the moment, there must be an integration of our total being of what is happening around us in body, soul, and spirit.
When we live in the fullness of the moment, we contemplate the past, and the present are illusions of time. Thinking about the past produces guilt and depression because of what we’ve done in our lives. The future, however, tends to generate fear and anxiety about what will happen to our loved ones or us. In the practice of Mindful Christianity, we understand the present moment is where we discover and find true contentment serenity and peace.
Thoughts from the past or the future keep us from being fully aware of what we are experiencing in the present moment. In contemplative prayer, we are detaching ourselves from the thoughts that trap us in the past and the anxiety of how we will survive in the future. Mindful Christianity is the practice of cultivating those thoughts and detaching from those thoughts by using a sacred word to call our minds to focus on the present moment and the awareness of God’s presence.
We must understand to focus upon Christ in the fullness of the moment takes work to release the hundreds if not thousands of thoughts. We release them with the knowledge that reality is the experience of what is happening in the present moment. It is in the awareness of Christ that we grasp that peace and contentment are ours when we are present with God. We learn mindfully to detach from the thoughts which rob us of our joy and the recognition we have spent most of our lives living in the past or future.
It is by letting go of the thoughts and feelings which control us that free us to focus on Christ. By letting go of our thoughts, we render them powerless to dictate our thinking. In the process, we are letting go thought by thought until there is nothing left except the awareness and presence of God. With that in mind, we find the hope of true peace and contentment.
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