Tag: mindfulness

Posted in communication, Life

Disconnect to connect

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

His eyes suddenly shifted away and down. To his wrist. To his smart watch. A second later, he returned to our conversation. A momentary interruption, but a huge break in attention. It didn’t happen just once. He felt the vibration on his wrist and glanced at a message six times in the next ten minutes. Lunch was punctuated by a stream of digital notifications.

As the class leader outlined the discussion for the evening, a phone rang at the next table. The owner dug into his pocket to retrieve his phone. He didn’t answer the call, but his phone rang a few more times. Must have been important.

I cannot remember a Sunday morning worship service that did not include the sound of someone’s cell phone. From the pulpit or the pew, I watch with amusement as the guilty party scrambles to find their phone in purse or pocket to turn it off.

We live in a world where anyone can abscond with our attention. We surrender real relationships to digital imitations. Our devices rule our lives, and the people we care about suffer because of our allegiance to watches and phones.

I only have one suggestion for those who want to wrest their lives from the dominion of non-stop digital communication: Leave your device at home.

Leave your phone in the car. Turn off notifications on your watch. Go to lunch, worship, a meeting, or an amusement park without any connected devices.

What? I know. Everyone is connected. Everyone is one the phone in line for tickets, food, rides, parking, upgrades, and reservations. You have to see it, right? And you have to respond, right?

Well, maybe not. That like, that comment, that response isn’t time sensitive. I’ll bet it’s not urgent. You can (and will) reply tomorrow.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Perfect Peace: Mindfulness in Isaiah 26

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A “through the bible” devotion from Isaiah 26.

“You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3)

I paused at this verse in Isaiah because it spoke of the mind. How many times have I read that Christian faith is not something to engage your intellect but a truth to touch your soul? I’ve often read that the longest distance is from the brain to the heart. The gospel is more than information about Christ. It’s the foundation of a relationship with him.

That’s all good and valid, but what about Isaiah’s image of a mind stayed on God?

  • When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
  • Paul wrote about being transformed by “renewing your mind” (Romans 12:2).
  • Paul also encouraged believers to have a mind like Christ, which he described as humble, obedient, and sacrificial (Philippians 2:5).
  • Paul also reminded his readers that “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). Want to get inside the head of God? You can in Christ.
  • Paul also comes down hard on those with “minds set on earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). Instead of that, “Set your minds on things that are above” (Col. 3:2).

In so many ways, scripture tells me to get my head in the game. It challenges me, “What were you thinking?” It directs to me to grow in both grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). It reminds me to consider, “What’s my mindset today?”

I can wrap my head around this. I am a logical thinker. This makes sense to me. Am I anxious, worried, upset, or unsettled? My mind needs a reset. At any given moment, what’s on my mind? Probably not the things of God. I need a reset. I need to refocus. I need to redirect my thinking.

How do I do that? I remember that Christ is the cornerstone. The prophetic and apostolic scriptures are the foundation. I build my life on those truths rather than circumstances, current events, financial news, the well-intended opinions of others, and my own limited understanding.

My mind will never stay focused on God. My desires, the world, and Satan himself continually distract me.

But I can pursue mindfulness. Being mindful is more than being in the moment. It’s about being mindful of God’s love, grace, truth, and authority over this moment.

You can trust him, depend on him, and be stay your mind on him. In return your get shalom shalom, that is, perfect peace.

Posted in shopping

“What did you buy?”

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Oxana Melis on Unsplash

I’m certain this never happens to anyone else. We pull into the driveway and see a package or two (or three) at the front door. It might be a box or a bag or just a product with an address sticker. One of us will say to the other, “What did you buy?” The other will respond, “Nothing. It must be yours.”

Upon opening them one of us will say, “Oh, that’s right. I ordered that two (or three or four) days ago.” Sometimes it’s a subscription order we get on a regular basis. And even rarer, it’ll be a gift.

There’s something disturbing about this. I like to think I engage in some level of mindfulness, but my shopping habits and memory betray me in this area.

In my defense, some of this is due to buying things separately. Because I buy individual items as I need or want them, each arrives by itself. While I try to visit as few stores as possible when shopping in person, I don’t care how many separate purchases I make online. And sometimes, when I do buy two or three items in one order, they may arrive in separate packages, having originated in different warehouses.

I’m sure someone has studied this. Sellers know I shop this way. That’s why they suggest things I might like to buy alongside my other purchases. If it’s something that I never set out to buy in the first place, it doesn’t occupy the same place in my memory as those things on my shopping list. In fact, I’ll bet I forget such purchases within an hour.

What’s the cure for this? I don’t know. Always make a list? Cross off the stuff I don’t need. Only buy what’s left. Keep the list, to remind me what I purchased.