Copyright 2018 Tami Kiser. All rights reserved.[/caption]
My son came home the other day from college and informed me that he had been seeing a counselor. (And I want to note that he is not at a Catholic college.) “Oh, great,” I thought to myself, and tried to remain open-minded.
Keeping a positive tone to my voice, I asked, “And how is that going? Is it helpful?”
He replied, “I think so. I was feeling a lot of stress and anxiety. My counselor taught me how to meditate and be mindful. I think it is really helping.”
At this point, I did want to suggest things like Adoration, Confession, daily devotions, the Rosary, and so on. I wanted to shake him and say, “What happened to your Catholic faith? Have you tried talking to God?!!” But having experienced the “educated-child-in-college” before, I knew that that approach wasn’t effective. Instead, I simply said, “Yeah, that’s pretty similar to prayer. I hope that it helps.”
This got me thinking and looking at this whole “mindfulness” trend. I sort of liked the idea of being mindful. After all, isn’t this what God wants of us? When I do my daily examen, that spiritual exercise which St. Ignatius proposed, I start by being “mindful.” The 2nd and 3rd steps, according to Jesuit.org, call us to:
Copyright 2018 Tami Kiser
- Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life.
- Review your day — recall specific moments and your feelings at the time.
Copyright 2018 Tami Kiser
About the Author
Tami Kiser
Tami Kiser is a wife, mother, teacher, author, and speaker. She runs a video production studio featuring Catholic speakers. These can be purchased or viewed on Formed. She also is the co-owner and host of a new Catholic Retreat and Cultural Center in the Carolina Mountains called Heart Ridge. She has taught everything from NFP, Zumba, cleaning toilets, Catholic crafting, the hula, bullet journaling, tap dancing, and liturgical living to Saxon Math 54 for the 10th time.
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