I mentioned several weeks ago that I was (still am!) making my way through The Mindful Way Through Depression.  Shannon asked what I thought about it, particularly with regard to its soundness for Christians.

I’m not terribly sure about all of the specific exercises (especially knowing there are some on an accompanying CD, and I have not listened to that), but so far the general concepts are actually very biblical if you read them with that context.  (Disclaimer here: I’m not finished with the book, so I’m not vouching for the whole thing at this point.)

Mindfulness = A “Being” (as opposed to “doing”) State

For instance, the general idea of mindfulness.  The author of this particular book describes mindfulness as remaining in a “being state” rather than a “doing state.”  The idea behind this is that there is a frame of mind in which we are constantly planning, problem-solving, etc. – that’s the “doing state.” There is nothing inherently wrong with this; in fact, if we aren’t in a “doing” frame of mind at some point, we probably won’t get anything done!

But when there is no problem to solve and no immediate planning to do, if we allow our brains to run off into this mode, they can drive us kind of crazy.  We jump to conclusions about people’s motives for saying or doing what they’ve said or done, we add problems to problems (mentally), and we just generally get mentally caught up in trying to “do” a zillion things, rather than simply focusing on and enjoying whatever it is we are currently in the middle of.  (And that may be technically doing something, by the way.  But to do it in “being mode” is to focus on just completing the task at hand, rather than mentally zooming ahead.)

Be Still

What immediately came to my mind as I was reading about this concept was:

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Isn’t all of that explanation (of which there is much more in the book itself) of the “being state” really just a good description of what it means to “be still”?  Unfortunately, the author misses the “know that I am God” part but, as believers, we can certainly fill in that blank ourselves.

Personally, I found all of the description here very helpful.  I tend to think of “being still” as having to sit in one spot and not speak, or something, but I don’t think that’s what the Lord was getting at with this instruction.  It’s more of a “be calm; be at peace.”

I have a hard time, just from the verse, really getting my head around what that looks like in real life, but all the talk of “being mode” made sense to me.  Isn’t God really saying, “Stop worrying.  Stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off – even just in your mind – and trust Me.  Trust that it will all be okay.  Enjoy the life I’ve given you.  Enjoy the task I’ve given you to do right now. Be still…and know that I am God”?

So hear the description of “being mode,” but consider not thinking of it as “being mode”;  think of it as “being still,” and remember this verse.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

That’s what I intend to aim for.