Kind promise: I will open to each moment.

PaintingMindfulness has gone mainstream! From a TIME Magazine cover to the PBS News Hour, folks are touting the advantages of being aware of each moment.

On March 1, as I turned my calendar from a month of surrender to one of mindfulness, I went to a retirement luncheon. Imagine meeting someone who gives you the impressions that she is delighted to see you, that she truly does see who you are and that you are a wonderful person who is increasing in awesomeness. That is my experience of each of the retirees and, as people rose to give thanks, I discovered it’s a common experience.

As I enter this month of mindfulness, I want to move forward without expectations, open to whatever this moment brings. I want to pay particular attention to each human encounter. How can I leave each person I meet feeling the way I feel when I am around that retiree?

At this point, I don’t even have words with which to describe that feeling or the verb of inviting another person to feel that way. I just looked up synonyms for the verb treasure: appreciate, cherish, prize.

I remember a story I heard (and have written about) of the Dalai Lama, who greets everyone “as though finally reuniting with a dear and long-lost special friend.” (I wrote about it in a month of connection and the article is about gratitude. Isn’t it wonderful how positive attitudes tangled together?) It seems that attitude of delight upon greeting is a good start.