Mindfulness gets tossed around a lot these days, but let’s be real—it doesn’t have to be some complicated, Instagram-worthy ritual. Sometimes, it’s just about sitting down with a cup of coffee and being fully present, letting go of the noise for a minute. Here’s a glimpse into how I’ve learned to slow down, embrace mindfulness, and find some peace in the middle of life’s usual chaos.
I’m sitting here in my recliner, totally at peace. It’s 6:00 am, and the sun hasn’t come up yet, but I don’t need it right now. The quiet feels good. The lights are dim, just enough to give the room a warm glow, and I’ve got my coffee in hand. My recliner’s kicked back like it’s just as ready for a lazy morning as I am. My cat is sprawled out on the couch next to me, completely knocked out—he doesn’t have a care in the world. And for once, neither do I.
Everyone else in the house is still asleep; for now, it’s just me, my thoughts, and the silence. Well, almost silent—there’s the faint hum of the TV. It’s not really on in the traditional sense. There’s no sound, just some nature scenes slowly rolling across the screen, probably some stock footage from a national park somewhere, but hey, it works. It’s calming like the universe is in on this little secret moment I’ve carved out for myself.
Here’s the thing: I’ve been up for an hour. I’ve already eaten my usual breakfast—nothing fancy, just the kind of stuff that gets you going in the morning, though I won’t lie, I’d kill for a breakfast burrito sometimes. I actually slept nearly 8 hours last night, which is a miracle in itself. That only happens when I’ve slogged through one of those brutal stretches of three 12-hour shifts in a row, which is every other weekend. You know, the kind of shifts where you feel like your body has gone on strike, but your brain still clocks in because the bills don’t stop coming.
But today? Today’s different. It’s a day off. No rushing to be somewhere, no alarms going off in the middle of a good dream, no one expecting anything from me except the cat, who, let’s be honest, doesn’t ask for much. I’ve got a training run planned for later this morning—part of the routine that keeps me from going stir-crazy. As soon as daylight hits, I’ll be out there, pounding the pavement, letting my feet do the talking. But right now, I’m not thinking about any of that.
I’m just here, in this moment, and it’s oddly perfect.
Now, don’t get me wrong—I could easily be stressing about the usual suspects. You know the ones: the stack of bills sitting on the desk, the work deadlines looming, the minor annoyances that pile up day after day until they feel anything but minor. Life has a way of turning up the volume on all that background noise until it’s the only thing you hear. It’s easy to get sucked into that cycle of worry, to feel like you’ve always got to be doing something, solving something, fixing something. But today? Screw that.
Today, I’m practicing a little thing called mindfulness. And no, this isn’t me hopping on the latest wellness bandwagon. This is just me, sitting here in my recliner, consciously choosing not to let all that crap steal my peace. And let me tell you, it’s a game-changer.
Mindfulness is about being fully present, like really present. You are not thinking about what’s next, not dwelling on what’s already happened. It’s not some magical state of being where your problems disappear and life suddenly looks like a Pinterest board. It’s just about accepting what is. Right here, right now. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.
Take this moment for example. The old me might’ve sat here, coffee in hand, and immediately started running through a mental checklist of everything I need to do today. There’s always something. Bills to pay, errands to run, work crap to sort out, the laundry pile that seems to reproduce faster than rabbits. I might’ve already started dreading the inevitable inbox pileup waiting for me tomorrow. But today? I’m not doing any of that. Today, I’m giving myself permission to just be.
Now, I’m not some monk on a mountaintop. I don’t meditate for hours on end or burn incense while I sit in lotus pose (though if that’s your thing, more power to you). I’m just an average guy who’s learned, through a lot of trial and error, that you’ve got to make space for these moments of peace. They don’t just happen on their own. You’ve got to create them intentionally.
Sometimes, that’s as simple as sitting down in a quiet room, kicking back in your recliner, and choosing to let go of the mental clutter. It’s telling yourself, “Yeah, those bills will get paid, but they’re not going to ruin this moment.” It’s realizing that most of the stuff we stress about doesn’t need to be front and center all the time. We give it too much airtime. Mindfulness is like changing the channel.
When you think about it, most of us are operating in this constant state of forward momentum. We’re always chasing the next thing—the next paycheck, the next project, the next whatever. And the problem with that is we’re rarely fully present in the now. We spend so much time living in our heads, in the future or the past, that we miss out on the present. And that’s where life actually happens.
So, what does mindfulness look like for me? It’s simple moments like this one. It’s not some grand gesture or life-changing epiphany. It’s just allowing myself to be fully here, to notice how the coffee tastes, how the recliner feels, and how the cat’s soft breathing rises and falls. It’s about not letting the quiet drive me into overthinking. It’s knowing that for the next few minutes, there’s nowhere else I need to be, nothing else I need to do.
And yeah, I know what you’re thinking—easier said than done, right? Trust me, I’ve been there. My mind loves to wander. It loves to latch onto the stress, the worry, the what-ifs. It’s a pro at taking the smallest inconvenience and blowing it up to crisis proportions. But over time, I’ve gotten better at recognizing when that happens and redirecting. Because that’s the thing about mindfulness—it’s a practice. You don’t just wake up one day and have it all figured out. You’ve got to keep at it.
Some days, it’s harder than others. Some days, you’ll sit there, trying to be all Zen, and your brain will be like, “Yeah, but what about that thing you’ve been putting off?” And on those days, maybe you don’t quite get to that peaceful place. That’s okay. The point is that you’re trying, that you’re making space for the possibility of peace, even if it doesn’t always show up on cue.
Right now, though? Peace has shown up. I’m feeling it. And it’s not because life is suddenly perfect or because all my problems have magically disappeared. It’s because I’ve chosen to focus on what’s good in this exact moment. I’ve chosen to let go of the need to be anywhere but here.
So here I am, sitting in my recliner, coffee in hand, cat by my side. The bills will still be there later. The errands can wait. Right now, I’m just enjoying the stillness before the world wakes up and the chaos kicks back in. And honestly? It’s enough.
Stay disciplined. Stay resilient.
Jim Lunsford
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