Being Where Your Feet Are

30 November 2024

Of all the ideas contained in this book, practicing this one, as a young person, might have changed my life sooner. Being where your feet are is being mindful.  That expression works because we’re so used to our feet being in one room, in one city, while our minds are in another city, back at work, wondering about your son’s birthday et cetera. 

The bottom line is that all we have is the moment we are living.  We can no longer experience the past and we cannot access the future.  It would be revealing to know how much of most human lives is spent dwelling in the past or speculating about the future—probably staggering quantities of time, in both cases.  And because we are unable to impact or fully experience those past and future moments, we have only this moment…and then it’s gone, that moment…and gone.  So let’s look at that word, have, from the opening of this paragraph. 

To have is “1. To be in possession of, as one’s property; own.” (Morris, 1975, p. 604).  As such, to have this moment is to possess it, or to own it.  And there’s a slippery surface here because Heraclitus’ river has been alluded to more than a few times.  How can time, which is in constant flux, be possessed?  That a thing cannot both be and not be, at the same time, is one of Aristotle’s laws of noncontradiction, to which I fully subscribe.

And the point of this thought experiment is right there: we can only possess our present moments and those, only for a flash of time…and they’re gone.  And in keeping with Aristotle, being where your feet are is being open and attentive to as many fleeting moments as possible because first, they are, and then they are not.  Which is the nature of life on Earth. 

The best source I have read on mindfulness was part of my master’s coursework: Jon Kabat-Zinn’s (2021) Wherever You Go There You Are.  I agree with most of what he wrote, and we’ll share some of those points before discussing the disagreement.

Meditation is simply about coming to realize that you are on a path whether you like it or not, namely, the path that is your life.  Meditation my help us see that this path we call our life has direction; that it is always unfolding, moment by moment; and that what happens now, in this moment, influences what happens next.  [If this interests you, look in the references for the blog on this, link below.]  If what happens now does influence what happens next, then doesn’t it make sense to look around a bit from time to time so that you are more in touch with what is happening now, so that you can take your inner and outer bearings and perceive with clarity the path that you are actually on and the direction in which you are going?  If you do so, maybe you will be in a better position to chart a course for yourself that is truer to your inner being [congruence]—a soul path, a path with heart, your path with a capital P.  If not, the sheer momentum of your unconsciousness in this moment just colors the next moment.  The days, months, and years quickly go by unnoticed, unused, unappreciated.

—Kabat-Zinn, (2021, p. xvi)

This sounds a lot like the choice Socrates introduced: whether or not to live an examined life.  And when you think about Kabat-Zinn’s quote, that’s precisely what he’s asking of us: slow down, take stock, respond patiently in accord with your innermost values.  You do that when you know how to quiet your internal chatter (self-control) and be mindful (being where your feet are).

You don’t have to be a Buddhist or a yogi to practice mindfulness.  In fact, if you know anything about Buddhism, you will know that the most important point is to be yourself and not try to become anything that you are not already.  Buddhism is fundamentally about being in touch with your own deepest nature and letting if flow out of you unimpeded.  It has to do with waking up and seeing things as they are.

—Kabat-Zinn, (2021, p. 6)

No, you have not missed the part where I tell you to become a Buddhist!  The quote above is included, not because it’s so different, but because the descriptions could easily be about self-actualization per Aristotle or the examined life of Socrates.  Which indicates we’ve probably plumbed a pretty sound depth here. 

Please re-read the part following the square brackets, in the fourth paragraph above and you’ll read that Kabat-Zinn alluded to “…a soul path, a path with heart, your path…”  What boggles my poor wee mind is that, by the end of the same book, he’s arguing that there is no self.

If you look deeply for a stable, indivisible self, for the core ‘you’ that underlies ‘your’ experience, you are not likely to find it other than in more thinking.  You might say you are your name, but that is not quite accurate.  Your name is just a label.  The same is true of your age, your gender, your opinions, and so on.  None are fundamental to who you are.

—Kabat-Zinn, (2021, p. 237)

Methinks he has mistaken flux for impermanence.  As viewers (or readers) who have come this far will know, I readily acknowledge that we are both being and becoming even in our final dust to dust moments.  But the fact that life is change does not negate identity.  Each flower, shark, dog, and tree is still an individual entity with its own identity.  So how can the most complex organisms on Earth, human beings, not also have permanent markers of identity like your name, your genetic code, your history, or your story? 

A name is not just a label.  A name is your means of social identification and inextricably connects you to the families whose blood runs through your veins.  And that blood, runs through only your veins and the veins of the brothers and sisters with whom you share parents.  The feet that I am asking you to be with, are shedding skin, becoming arthritic…but they are your feet because they belong to the unique identity that is you.  You are.  I am.  Be where your feet are and you will not only know self, but celebrate its uniqueness and trajectory.

Thank you for thinking and acting.  More next week.  Be well.

Summary

• Be where your feet are.  This is a foundational habit.  Without attention to you, your surroundings, your people, places, & things, you’re coasting.
• All we have is the moment we’re living.  This moment.  (Which doesn’t make memories unreal, just historical and unchangeable.)
• To have is “1. To be in possession of, as one’s property; own.” (Morris, 1975, p. 604).  But to have this moment…has already moved on.
• Mindfulness works anywhere, meditation is a lightly disciplined practice.
• The self is real.  Who is it that absorbs life lessons, education, and maybe 80 years of lived memory?  Who did you first fall in love with?  S/he is still s/he.  They are still they.  (A = A Yes, still!)

Sources Referenced:

Chalykoff, D. R. (3 June 2020) Resilience 5: The Bounce-back Virtue: Act.  Tenaciously. https://understandings.ca/wp-admin/post.php?post=254&action=edit

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994/2005). Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life.  Hachette Books.

Morris, W. (Ed.) (1975). The Heritage illustrated dictionary of the English language.  American Heritage Publishing Co, Inc.