In the current harsh realities that we are faced with today–Ellen DeGeneres’ words “It feels good. Kind of like when you have to shut your computer down, just sometimes when it goes crazy, you just shut it down and when you turn it on, it’s okay again…” when sharing why she meditates in an interview back a few years ago in The Today Show resonated with me, and it led me to seek a place where I could boost calmness and my overall mindfulness.
In my search, I stumbled upon non-denominational mindfulness centers, where members explore ways to cultivate spiritual development and tap into and connect with the spiritual truth within.
Now, spiritual truth? My skeptical side alarm went off, and after due diligence, I found studies directed by Harvard University, UCLA, and articles in the Scientific American sharing the understanding that mindfulness and meditation need more rigorous studies. These studies arrived at the same conclusion that there is some good evidence which supports mindfulness practices. This allowed me to reconcile that mindfulness as the personal experience that it is allows for a more accurate perception of oneself and one’s interconnection with the world that can be understood as enlightenment or spiritual truth.
Progressive spiritual communities have been empowering individuals by nurturing their spiritual faculties through talks, seminars, and other activities that address self-awareness, human-inner qualities, courage, and inner-healing.
Mindfulness can help us identify, acknowledge, and work on managing our unconscious biases for the greater good of our community. Self-awareness could help reduce the paranoia being portrayed, and further fueled in some media platforms that erodes our American unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Meditation, along other mindfulness practices would invigorate productive conversations. Get us back on the path that will make our American dream a closer reality for us all. Mindful militancy is what we need today.
Mindfulness and self-awareness will connect us to our inner-energy and trigger forgiveness, healing, creativity, and joy. Things that we can all gain from in our highly polarized political environment and build cohesiveness, not divisiveness, inclusion, and not alienation; truly embrace what defines us as Americans e pluribus unum.
Ignoring spiritual growth is cutting individuals off from their capacity to reach self-fulfillment. Why not follow one of the teachings from our fierce Rupaul, “If you can’t love yourself how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”
Reaching a higher consciousness is imperative to mindfully celebrate the human adventure we are here for that we know as life, make our America truly great again and fulfill the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. fought for. It is in our hands to examine our own biases, and stand in unison. It is in our hands to be proud of our diversity to heal and transform our society.
My question to you is this: Would you prefer to keep your life and relationships without evolving or to take a 50/50 chance of having more authenticity and mindfulness in all aspects of your life?
