Week 2 – MINDFULNESS - Ok, so last week's challenge was to "be that guy" and ask about hidden ingredients at restaurants. This week's challenge is a little more personal. This week you'll need to engage in a practice of mindfulness for 10 minutes every day. This can be meditation, prayer, journaling, or mindful eating.

Um...huh?

Left to itself the mind wanders through all kinds of thoughts — including thoughts expressing anger, craving, depression, revenge, self-pity, etc. As we indulge in these kinds of thoughts we reinforce those emotions in our hearts and cause ourselves to suffer. Mostly these thoughts are about the past or future. The past no longer exists. The future is just a fantasy until it happens. The one moment we actually can experience — the present moment — is the one we seem most to avoid.

So in mindfulness we’re concerned with noticing what’s going on right now. That doesn’t mean we can no longer think about the past or future, but when we do so we do so mindfully, so that we’re aware that right now we’re thinking about the past or future.

By purposefully directing our awareness away from such thoughts and towards our present moment experience, we decrease their effect on our lives and we create instead a space of freedom where calmness and contentment can grow.