Vincent, bald headed with a full bushy red beard, told me an interesting story as he was grinding his elbow into my piriformis muscle at physical therapy this week.
“I was special operations forces in the Coast Guard for 20 years. I just got out in 2016. I trained here in the USA, but then got deployed in Central America and South America, performing drug interdictions and other missions. We were told we were going to have training in mindfulness, and you can imagine how well that went over with the guys… Well, the mindfulness instructor was a sharp shooter from the Navy Seals. He had all our attention.”
“No kidding! That’s awesome! How long did you train with him? And what did you learn that was helpful?” I was so curious to find out about his experience, because they are using mindfulness in the police force, and in many branches of our military.
“I think I spent about 3 weeks with him. What was amazing was how he taught us to let go of the last shot. It’s over. Don’t worry about whether you hit your mark. The next shot is upon you and that’s the one to focus your attention on. That was a game changer.”
“Yeah, that’s mindfulness… paying attention to what you are doing when you are doing it. Without ethics or wise discernment, you could be a fabulous mindful assassin or mindful bank robber!”
He laughed and said he never thought about it that way, but that’s exactly true!
I asked him whether he kept up any of the practice, and he said that he’s been thinking about meditating but he hasn’t gotten around to adding it to his routine.
“Well, summer is almost upon us. Why don’t you set an intention to meditate once a day for 5 or 10 minutes using the free Insight Timer app? Just pop in your ear buds and follow the voice. If you notice any positive changes in your mind and body, that will give you the motivation to keep it up!”
I love my work!
May you be safe, happy, and healthy, and may you live with ease.
