Last Tuesday evening I attended a seminar in mindfulness. To most of the other attendees it appeared to be a five-hour blues concert headlined by the legendary B.B. King, but to me it was a tremendous lesson in the art of being mindful.

Let me explain:

For those of you who aren't into blues music, B.B. King is one of the great southern blues masters. He has named his guitar "Lucille" and together they've traveled to 90 countries since starting in the 1940's and have released over 50 albums. Over the course of his show, he told us that he is now 77 years old! He was accompanied by his 10 member band (complete with a full horn section!) one of whom has been with him for 24 years!

B.B. King's most famous song is called "The Thrill is Gone" but to hear him last Tuesday night you would have known that, for this man, the thrill is very much alive. There was nothing old or tired about the way he played or the enthusiasm he showed. Even at age 77 he continues to play more than 220 shows a year, but I would have sworn that he was playing these songs for the very first time. I also would have sworn that he was playing just for me. As I listened to him I realized that this is a man who truly lives in the moment. He wasn't thinking about his next album or his royalty cheques, or the long trip ahead of him - he was thoroughly enjoying each and every song that he played for us.

The main lesson that I took from B.B. King was that we should really make sure that we love what we're doing and who we are - just in case we end up living to age 77! On the other hand, maybe he's still going at 77 precisely BECAUSE he loves what he's going. Something to think about, isn't it?

ENJOY NOW!

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