CERTAINLY, AS ONE AGES, NONE ARE AS MINDFUL AS THEY WERE IN THEIR YOUTH HOWEVER THIS IS EXPECTED AND ACCEPTED AS A PART OF LIFE. SO THEN A REFUSAL TO ENTER THE 'INSTANT' CAN NOT ONLY BE A SHOW OF ACUTE 'MINDFULNESS' BUT ALSO, OF BEING VERY WISE. BUT THEN LOOKING INTO ANOTHER DIRECTION; TO COMPLETELY LOSE 'MINDFULNESS'...THIS REMINDS ME OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE DISEASE OF ALZHEIMER'S. HOW SAD IT MUST BE FOR ONE TO FEEL THE EMPTINESS APPROACHING BUT KNOW THAT THEY CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. YEARS AGO I WORKED AS A CNA IN A NURSING HOME AND I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER FORGET MY FIRST PATIENT, ROSE. THANKS FOR SHARING, JOHN. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+ INSPIRATIONS

Your words, especially, "Silent awareness of every sound,", take me to that place, "the instant"!! Oh, how I will continue to enjoy this!

Love ya!

Jane

I have taken classes in mindfulness and found them sometimes difficult but always worthwhile. The hard part is getting beyond all the chatter that clutters my mind, most of which depresses me and makes me anxious. But once I'm free of that then I'm able to enjoy the world about me, starting with the simple acts of breathing and listening to my heart slow to a healthier rate.

Rebecca

You have me a bit confused with this poem. Mindfulness is perhaps a loaded word with multiple meanings depending upon who is considering something worth the mind to contemplate. I don't think we have such a thing as a "empty" mind. But we can, with practice, turn off all extraneous thought, and then, let what comes to mind become our next poem, our next big dream, our solution to our dilemma, or not.

Ron