When Jimmy Carter revealed during a recent press conference that he has four spots of cancer on his brain, a reporter noted that it was impossible to feel sorry for him. “Feeling sorry would have felt like an insult, a denial of the virtues he showed and the faith he didn’t need to speak because it was there.”
It was also a supreme example of mindfulness which is seldom so evident. The habit of mindfulness, rooted in ancient traditions, is as relevant today as when it was conceived thousands of years ago as a way to cultivate compassion and ease suffering.
Making a conscious effort to be completely present in the current moment helps you learn to be content and live with a renewed purpose. By practicing mindfulness, the brain is trained to focus attention on what’s going on around you, helping you avoid making premature assumptions about other people and events.
Although society has practiced mindfulness for thousands of years, the concept is fairly new in western medicine. Multiple studies indicate mindfulness has a positive effect on the quality of life of healthy people as well as those coping with a chronic condition. Since the benefits far outweigh the risks, it is an ideal complementary therapy to conventional medicine.
Mindfulness invites you to separate yourself from an illness or a chronic condition. It requires that you look at yourself as a whole person who just happens to have cancer or a heart condition or depression. It reduces stress, helps relieve insomnia and sleep disorders, offers relief from anxiety, improves communication skills and can offer a deep sense of peacefulness which was evident at the Carter press conference.
It also challenges you to take responsibility for your reaction to your current situation, knowng that your body is the result of a complex series of interactions between mind and body. Therefore, you can learn to use your mind to change your perception of your current circumstances as Jimmy Carter did when he told the world he has cancer in his brain. He smiled as he spoke.