Mindful

What makes you unique?Well,let’s make it as simple as we can.You are born with a genetic code and you are stuck with it whether you like it or not.Okay,so we have genetics as the first thing on our list of what makes you unique.Next would be your experiences.Let’s explore an example.You are around 5 years old,you go out to the park and run into a rather big dog who jumps out at you and almost bites you.From that point onwards,you will probably be scared of dogs and not be fond of visiting anyone who has dogs.You remember that day in the park,don’t you?That brings us to the third thing on our list which is memory.Experiencing things forms memories,these memories shape and influence new experiences and decisions.These decisions will either make you want to go back and do that thing again or stay as far away as possible from it.That brings us to what is(in my opinion) an especially important part of our list,interaction

How many people do you interact with on a normal day?That depends on whether you are an outgoing person or not.Let’s go back to when you were 3 years old.At this age,you were forced to interact with people.You were just rolled around in your stroller and forced to interact with anyone who came right up to your face,pinched your ears and went”goo goo gaga goo ” and they perceived your confused look as”aww,look how happy he is”.What about all the people passing by when you and mum went shopping.Angry people,crazy people,shouting people,happy people,crying people.Your tiny brain had to order all this information into a neat pile.As you get older,you are able to choose who you want to interact with.You can ignore someone who annoys you and spend more time with someone who makes you happy.The point is that these interactions shape you.You are your genentic code, thoughts,memories and interactions.To put it simply,if people are always casting you aside,you will probably become shy and reserved.If people are always shouting at you,your personality will develop based on that.You get the idea.

Let’s talk about the word “mindful” and what it means.Mindful simply means being consciously aware.Let’s consider a real life situation which I myself experienced.I was buying some groceries at a supermarket and noticed a customer being very rude to the cashier because she scanned something incorrectly.The customer was not mindful of the situation,she only considered herself and the fact that she was in a hurry and she had to be rude to the cashier so the transaction could move along quicker.A mindful person would say that the cashier made a mistake with the scanning but she has been standing there for 7 hours and she may be a bit tired so i should take a moment to be mindful,to be aware and allow myself to approach the situation differently.We have already established that these interactions shape us but lets add one more detail.These interactions not only affect us but also the person we are interacting with.Before we say or do something,we should take a moment to consider the impact our decision will have on the other person and the lasting effect our rushed,brash decision will have on someone elses life.Maybe the cashier was ill or someone in her family had just passed on or she was going through a difficult time for some other reason.Let’s remember to always be mindful of our thoughts,what we say and our actions because these are the things that not only shape us into the people we will become but have lasting effects on the people around us and this ultimately shapes the society that we are apart of.