&quotIt’s a totally free nation,&quot they say. &quotCelebrate our independence,&quot I hear.

Well, I am all for getting a celebration, but it strikes me that you do not have to be an American to enjoy flexibility, and performing what I am informed isn’t the best way to exercise independence.

So, let us broaden that idea of flexibility just a bit, and appear at how we can turn out to be much more conscious of the fireworks that are lights up our minds.

What sets off your psychological fireworks? What ignites your personal bottle rockets?

Perhaps it’s a easy pet peeve, like small handbag dogs, or Jello salad, or people who talk on their cell phones as well loudly. Maybe you go ballistic when you hear a particular song. We frequently have intense reactions to relatively small issues based on our very own little stories about them.

Maybe you save your fireworks for the big-ticket products-issues like war, poverty, health, and education.

In your head or in the sky above, when those fireworks begin exploding, you have acquired two choices. You can both:

one) Hoot/holler, ooh/ahh, whistle/clap

-or-

2) Watch quietly

What do YOU do?

How do you react when that first flash seems? Do you get caught up in the excitement of it? Are you likely to share your enthusiasm in a way that is noisy-or are you much more likely to view in silence? What is your All-natural TENDENCY?

In the name of flexibility all over the place, I’d like to offer this tip to those who might be convinced that mindfulness requires silence: attempt generating noise. And to those who are much more likely to hoot and holler, here is a suggestion: be quiet.

In other words, use fireworks as an opportunity to totally free yourself from your common response pattern, and pay attention to the newness of it. After all, mindfulness begins when we discover some thing new. So, instead of concentrating on usually discovering some thing to get excited about, attempt tweaking your very own way of reacting. And then, view THAT.

Begin with the big, glorious displays in the evening sky. Observe. Watch yourself. Do what you normally wouldn’t do.

Later on, attempt the same thing with those psychological fireworks. Observe. Watch yourself. Do what you normally wouldn’t do.

And celebrate your independence.

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse in Portland, Oregon. Via her business, Real-Globe Mindfulness Training, she teaches inventive and potent eyes-wide-open alternatives to meditation. To subscribe to her totally free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, make sure you go to http://www.MassageYourMind.com