Freedom from the daily grind requires mindfulness and action, and so does everyday life. This true story illustrates the need for mindfulness and taking action.
I recently took a trip to see family in Wales. We travelled by train, and there is ongoing work on one of the lines meaning that we had to walk to an unfamiliar station. This is an underground station, and access to the platforms is via lift only.
So once we had passed through the ticket barriers with our suitcases etc, we stood in line with around a dozen other people and when the next lift came up, we all trooped in like good little robots and the doors closed.
Whilst we waited to reach the platform, a discussion ensued amongst everyone about the planned strike action by Merseyrail, that was due to take place during the Grand National, and how this was going to affect Liverpool’s tourism and just people in general.
I don’t care for the Grand National and have a particular view on it that would not have been popular with this group, so did not really contribute. Besides, it is not relevant to this story. But I did listen politely to people as they discussed what they thought about the situation.
Eventually, the doors of the lift opened and we turned to exit.
We then looked at each other – we hadn’t moved! We were still on the concourse.
Everyone was so concerned about discussing their latest annoyance that no-one had pressed the button to take the lift down!
Thankfully, we were able to catch the train we needed – but it could have worked out differently.
This demonstrated to me the need for mindfulness and focus in even the smallest situations.
If you have a destination and really want to get there, do not allow yourself to be distracted
Ignore the noise and press the damned button!!