Mind-Full

A mind that’s full.  Mind-full.  When I hear this phrase, I wonder what’s it full of?  A full mind can have several different meanings, depending on your point of view.  Is it full of imagination?  Or curiosity?  Full of knowledge, perhaps?  Or full of fear and worry?  Full of anger and hate?  Depending on what exactly we are talking about in terms of the substance of the filling, a mind full could be a really positive thing or… not.

In the world of mindfulness, it is often talked about that being mindful is positive but being mind-full is negative.  I love a lot of the principles of mindfulness and meditation, and I engage in their use as part of my self-care routine.  On this particular point though, I'm not sure that I can completely agree.  There are times when I get lost in a daydream, and come out of it feeling energized and refreshed.  These moments are often sparks for creativity and I wouldn't trade them.  I've also had times where my mind has been spinning with different types of worry and anxiety thoughts.  In these moments, being able to redirect to a more mindful stance proves to be a centering act that helps me to manage the worry and cope effectively.

What this seems to boil down to is the idea that life is not an either/or, black or white kinda place.  Life exists in the gray.  There are very few things that are either always right or always wrong; always good or always bad.  Sometimes things are right and sometimes they are wrong.  Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are bad.  Sometimes a mind that’s full is a positive and sometimes a mind that’s full is a negative.  And then, there’s everything in between.  A case can be made that sometimes things are not that simple; life can get rather complicated at times.  What if you’re making the choice between two bad things- what then?  In the professional world of counseling, we often call this harm reduction.  Both options aren’t good and in the ideal world, neither of them would be options.  But in the real world, sometimes this is what is.  When the choice is between two good things, well, then this is less complicated because the answer usually is something along the lines of: “can I have both?”  And if not, well then I’m still going to have two great options to choose from so really, I can’t go wrong with that.

So, a mind that’s full may be a good thing.  It may be a bad thing.  It may be just a thing.  You get to decide for you what works best for your mind.