Recently, a friend was in my house commenting on how healthy my houseplants are looking. My jaw nearly hit the floor. I have never been known for the health of my houseplants. In fact, I have been known for bringing them into work so those colleagues of mine, who are fortunate enough to have a green thumb, can take care of them for a while as a mean of rejuvenation!
So why are my houseplants suddenly thriving? In short, I have slowed down. And it’s in this slowing down that I have been able to notice them and to take the time to attend to them with care. This got me thinking of all the other subtle signs of health returning after a number of years of overwhelm and WAY too much time dedicated to the grind. It also got me reflecting on just how much of a toll on my own body and spirit that living in survival mode has taken. Somehow, the health of my houseplants has become a barometer for how well I am taking care of myself and how I attend to what is fundamentally important to me: the spaces and people that I call home.
This quality of ‘attending to’ is a teaching and an attribute of the practice of mindfulness that is emphasized by Jon Kabat Zinn, who probably (most definitely) qualifies as the Godfather of secular mindfulness. It would not be unusual to hear a meditation guided by Kabat Zinn, in which he encourages and open-hearted attending to whatever is arising within the present moment. Within the context of meditation, this could be sensations, emotions, thoughts, or sounds, smells and sights: whatever is happening around and within. However, meditation is only a starting point. When we apply this level of attention off the cushion, we start to see all the ways that our attention can be the catalyst for health and wellness. Like my houseplants!
Watering my plants and taking note of where and how they thrive takes me all of about ten minutes every fortnight. Yet, this open-hearted attention has brought about rejuvenation and bloom. So if my houseplants are thriving, what else would thrive with this slowing down and quality of ‘attending to’?
As I reflect on this question, I can see that it’s not just the houseplants that have benefitted from the shift in pace and level of awareness that comes with slowing down. My friendships, family relationships, diet and creativity have all been nurtured and in turn nurturing. Indeed, Kabat Zinn explains that “to drop into being means to recognize your interconnectedness with all life, and with being itself. Your very nature is being part of larger and larger spheres of wholeness”. However, when life speeds up and when life turns upside down, dropping into being, or presence, can be the last thing on our list. Yet, it’s probably the most important thing that we could do to mitigate the damage of life’s unstoppable difficulties.
So, I will look to my houseplants as my marker and reminder: Am I taking care of myself? Am I noticing the life and spaces all around me? Am I meeting my moments with an open-hearted attending to? If the answer is no, what do I need to do to slow down and make it so.
This week, I will be guiding a practice on open-hearted attending to at the Sanctuary’s Tuesday morning online community meditation. If this interests you and if you feel the need to slow down, I would love to see you there!
-Jane
Click here to join me at the Sanctuary’s online meditation session on Tuesday morning at 10am
Click below to download and listen to a meditation on ‘open-hearted attending to’.
My Silent Place 
Leave a comment