Mindfulness

My nephew, Jonathan, recently posted an article on his Facebook page that we will use in our new trauma healing materials.  It is about mindfulness, about being attentive to the here and now.  I think that when I am in contact with nature is when I am the most mindful.  My thoughts don´t wander to the past; worries about the future dissipate.  With the mountains, rivers and trees I am here, now.  I am more aware of my cold fingertips and warm toes, the crisp winter breeze lifting my hair, the bird call far away - faint but I hear it even above the roar of the water fall.  Even food tastes different here.  I am aware of flavors: cheese, olives, alfalfa sprouts, almonds, carrots, lettuce.  I don´t need any salt or dressing on the salad I eat outside.  I am more aware of what I am thinking - and take time to sit with my thoughts.  I remember when Jonathan was a child, his mother asked him why he was laying on the grass doing nothing.  He answered, "I am doing something.  I am thinking!"  How do we teach kids today to contemplate, to be mindful?  By introducing them to the mindfulness required of nature when we venture out to explore.