Article

Instant Renewal

Written by Patricia Rae Koehler

Topic: MysticismPublished Recently added

“It is as it is” - my latest mantra - is a phrase I heard and absorbed on a Sunday morning some months ago when I woke up at 5 AM and something inside me pushed me get up, turn one the radio and listen to “Humankind,” a weekly program on National Public Radio, with which I was familiar.
I resisted for a few minutes, but the “something” in me kept telling me to move, so I reluctantly pushed myself out of bed, went into the living room and turned on the radio. I was instantly glad that I had forced myself to get up and sorry I had not done so sooner. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was discussing a powerful, yet simple, stress-relieving meditative technique he calls “mind-fullness.” The goal of this practice is to calm down and focus only on the present moment — lifting the enormous burden of worry about either the past or the future.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn’s meditation, which emphasizes paying attention to the simple act of breathing, is called “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction” (MBSR). He says that becoming friendly with one’s own breathing, paying attention to the movement in our belly, and learning to ride on the waves of our breath moving in and out of the belly, has a calming effect. At the same time that we’re cultivating calmness, we’re also refining another powerful tool, mindfulness, or a deep seeing into the reality unfolding moment by moment. We’re actually teaching ourselves how to calm down and get out of our own way. It’s like a natural tranquilizer and instant renewal.
According to Dr. Kabat-Zinn, this process is also an “affectionate attention”- being present to the moment and not knowing how things are going to unfold, even as we plan for the future. “It is as it is.” We are open to not knowing, we are also letting go of our need to know. It doesn’t deny our need for action; it simply allows us to approach the action and the future differently. We don’t fight what we can’t control; nevertheless we act.
“It is as it is” - a powerful affirmation to help us live in the NOW and generate in us an instant renewal, acceptance, and full engagement with the present moment, which immediately opens us to the abundance of our future.
“It is as it is.” And so it goes. I continue with my mantra, hopefully growing more peaceful and accepting day by day.

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About the Author

Patricia is a Senior citizen who has a wide and varied background. A Texan by birth she entered the convent after graduating from high school. As a Sister of the Holy Cross Patricia earned a B.A. in education from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN and later she taught at the junior high school level in Califo
ia and Utah, after which she spent five years as a missionary in Sao Paulo, Brazil. During her years in Brazil Patricia learned to speak Portuguese fluently, was co-principal of a new grade school, and worked in several parishes in outlying areas. Patricia never felt completely accepted by the Holy Cross leadership in Brazil; and unfortunately she later developed an eye problem which resulted in her returning to the States a year earlier than planned.
Patricia left the convent after thirty years of service and has since earned an M.A. in education from the University of Notre Dame and a D.Min. from the University of St. Mary of the Lake at Mundelein, Il. While working on her D.Min. degree Patricia lived in South Bend, IN. and every Saturday morning she traveled by train to Chicago, then by bus to Mundelein college. Her instructor and advisor was Rev. John Shea, renowned poet, author and storyteller. Patricia considers this educational experience one of the pivotal points in her personal and spiritual growth.
Presently, Patricia is writing a book, The Mysticism of Growing Old - Memoir of an Aging Novice. Her stated goal for the book is “to discover if the quest for ‘knowing the truth’ allowed me to experience mysticism in my life, and if so, how it has affected my life. This work is not meant to be a scientific or theological treatise, rather it is my personal mission to discover what mysticism means for and to me as I ponder the fact that I am moving toward eighty and growing older daily. My goal is to do this in such a way that it reflects back to me a greater truth in my life. It is one person’s attempt to reflect on her experiences, or lack thereof, of mysticism in her life, what that means and how it reflects outward into the greater reality of the here and now. In other words, it will be a memoir of a life lived in pursuit of the ultimate reality - union with the All That IS.”

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