It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Could you be mine? Would you be mine?
Fred Rogers, TV Host Mr. Rogers Neighborhood
Remember Mr. Rogers? I was a big fan often watching his program with my baby son. I think what Fred was teaching children was mindfulness. He was committed to creating a safe, kind, loving place for all of us to learn to navigate our minds and bodies no matter how difficult our feelings, thoughts, or lives might be.
From his perspective, our minds and bodies are the neighborhoods over which we have complete agency. As Mr. Rogers did, we can create our own beautiful calm, centered, peaceful, and fun neighborhood using mindfulness tools. I’ve learned I can freely choose the way I navigate my interactions and challenges as they unfold. I believe Fred was instructing human-kindness for a gentler, positive more meaningful world.
I was wrestling with how to frame my words today when I came across a teaching about the ‘neighborhood’ of lovingkindness in Sylvia Boorstein’s book Pay Attention For Goodness Sake. I love how she cleverly encourages us to live in a metta (loving-kindness in Pali) neighborhood because it’s a happy safe place to inhabit.
Several world events of the last couple of weeks temporarily threw me into a few dark places; the ‘when will this hatred, blame, lying, and greed ever end’ place. Humankind has often not been very lovingkind. Perhaps that’s why completing my MBSR training feels right for me at this moment. It has clarified what my peaceful mindful neighborhood looks like. I get much pleasure in sharing it with all of you and teaching it practically as Mr. Rogers did. There were people from all over the world on my screen learning and hungry for less stress and more calm. They make me feel hopeful.
With a sense of joy and lightheartedness we can all have less stress. Here are a few daily things we need to do to make it happen.
*Movement: yoga, chair yoga, walking, qigong, Tai Chi, for forty minutes.
*PAUSE: Take a few moments to check whether you’re even in your body-mind. Take a few quiet breaths.
*Meditate.
*Do something nurturing for yourself. A little self-love in a moment of now.
*Do at least one random act of kindness.
*Be of service.
So start singing my version of Fred’s ditty; It’s a beautiful day in my mindfulness neighborhood.
Blessings and lovingkindness for each of our days,
Jane