A definition of mindfulness for the purpose of this blog: to be increasingly open and connected to the Other – people, the world, our future Self – through all our senses.

There is a moment in the Star Trek movie Insurrection,* when Jean Luc Picard is arrested by the magic of a moment as seeds are lifted on the breeze by a breath as time appears to stand still.

These moments are always available to us through mindfulness, reflection, presence, meditation – whatever we may term or mnlabel it.  We forget this in the rush and necessity of daily life, but it’s always there – life’s gift to us.  Waiting to be entered into, a reality within a reality, to then be carried into the speed and demand of a day.

Perhaps we need the poet and artist and filmmaker and storyteller to capture this most sharply for us.  Activist and author Jane Jacobs didn’t see the cram of buildings in her neighbourhood, rather she saw ‘a vessel of empty spaces in which people interacted with other people.’  Jacobs saw a dance; we can all be involved in the dance, a different way of seeing the invisible city, and the invisible life.

There’s a hugely valuable game for improv (theatre and comedy): “yes and”.  You cannot say “no and,” “no but,” or “yes but.”  You have to say “yes and” and see where it leads you and the one proposing.  This recognises life is best played as an infinite game.

When have you been arrested by something which has caused you to wonder for a moment – an image, a story, a film, an action, take it as an impro moment: “yes and.”  You can’t say “no and,” “no but,” or “yes but.”  You have to say “yes and” and see where it leads you and the one proposing.  

(*Check out moment “3” in this youtube video.  As with many sci-fi movies, we are exploring what is available to us right now through the lens of the future.)