Can mindfulness be a curse?

You are mindful.  You are a tough, mindful person of action.

As a mindful person, you are reflective.

As a mindful person, you are brutally honest with yourself.

And, yes, being mindful: tough, brutally honest and reflective can, at times, seem like a curse.

You could have married Paul but you married Peter.  Peter turned out to be a bum and Paul is a great guy with a loving family.

You turned down the job with Microsoft.

You decided not to buy the Apple stock in 2005.

You gave your kids lots of freedom and they didn’t do so well with it.

You let yourself go physically.

The more reflective you are, the more honest you are, the more your bad decisions can hurt.

And, if you dwell in the past, your mistakes will continue to hurt.

Begin by mindfully admitting your mistakes.  Yes, no doubt about it, you screwed up.

Being mindful, you realize, you accept, that you are living in the present and can not go back and redo your prior decisions.  What’s done is done.

However, being mindful, is always a learning experience.   Your living and learning and loving in the present prepares you for a better tomorrow.  In the present, with your reflective understanding of your past, you are better prepared to identify the next Paul, the next Microsoft or the next Apple.

Being mindful, accepting our past mistakes does hurt but we must now put this pain to produce use.