It is only fair for me to point out right from the start, again in the spirit of full disclosure, that the cultivation of mindfulness may just be the hardest work in the world.
Ironically, to grow into the fullness of who we actually already are is the challenge of a lifetime for each of us as human beings. No one can take on that work for us. It can only be our own undertaking in response to our own calling — and only if we care deeply about living the life that is authentically ours to live, in the face of everything that we may be called to engage with, being human.
At the same time, the work of cultivating mindfulness is also play. It is far too serious to take too seriously — and I say this in all seriousness! — if for no other reason than because it really is about our entire life. It makes sense for a lightness of being and playfulness to be key elements of the practice of mindfulness, because they are key elements of well-being.
Ultimately, mindfulness can become an effortless, seamless element of our life, a way for our very being to express itself authentically, with integrity. In this regard, no one’s trajectory in cultivating mindfulness and the benefits that may come from it is the same as anyone else’s. The challenge for each of us is to find out who we are and to live our way into our own calling. We do this by paying close attention to all aspects of life as they unfold in the present moment. Obviously, no one else can undertake this work for you, just as no one can live your life for you — no one, that is, except you yourself.
What I have said so far may not make full sense to you. In fact, it can’t possibly make complete sense until you take your own seat and extend that gesture over time — until you commit to engaging in the formal and informal cultivation of mindfulness, supported by the aspiration to look and to see for yourself how things might actually be behind the veil of appearances and the stories we are so skilled at telling ourselves about how things are — even though they may not be true at all, or are only partially true.