Never forget that your days are blessed. You may know how to profit by them, or you may not, but they are blessed.
~ Nadia Boulanger
How do we practice mindfulness? Rituals help. Practice helps (as in practicing the piano or spiritual practices). Seeing what others before us have done, and then implementing them into our lives, helps. Many of the saints within the church upon the striking of a bell (hour clock chime, etc.) have reflected back to see how often they recalled thinking or speaking or being mindful of, to, and about God. Even spending time at the end of the day in reflection upon where one has experienced the Divine helps to build an awareness throughout the day.
Basho, the Zen pilgrim and poet, speaks about an end of the day ritual: "After lighting a lamp, I took out my pen and ink, closed my eyes, trying to remember the sights I had seen and the poems I had composed during the day."*
This practice of mindfulness pays off in unexpected ways. Here this story related by Phil Cousineau in his book
The Art of Pilgrimage.
The afternoon of his arrival [at Walden Pond, journalist William Zinsser] sauntered over the grounds, contemplating the contribution of Thoreau to his own life. At the edge of the famous pond, he noticed a man whom he presumed to be from India, apparently in deep reverie. At an appropriate moment, Zinsser approached him and asked if he was indeed from India and, if so, why he had come so far. The man explained that he was a friend of Gandhi, who "always had planned to make a pilgrimage to Concord." Because of Gandhi's untimely death, the visitor had vowed to make it for him, to complete the pilgrimage and find out for himself what had given Thoreau the serenity to write the books that had inspired his friend to pursue the philosophy of civil disobedience.
Zinsser was very touched by the sentiment and the gesture of this man completing his friend's pilgrimage nearly forty years after Gandhi's death. There is great power in making a journey with a deep purpose, but any journey can be further deepened by seeking a broader perspective. If Zinsser had kept to himself, lost in his own private thoughts, he never would have seen Walden the same way.
On an ordinary journey, one designed for sheer entertainment, diversion, or self-reward for a year of hard work, there would be no obvious need to go out of your way to strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger.
But a pilgrimage asks us to do exactly that. The path needs more light. To shine the light of your own natural curiosity into the world of another traveler can reveal wonders. To remember the mysteries you forgot at home.*
Let us not be afraid to be mindful of Grace and Light, as we seek to share it with others.
*both quotes are from Phil Cousineau.
The Art of Pilgrimage. 197-8.
