The Mindful Bard is all about supporting creative types (artists, explorers, scientists, problem-solvers, social capital investors, et al) with inspiration, motivation, healing, self-knowledge, compassion, and effective tools. To this end we publish pieces on mindful living— ideas, interviews with creative folks, comics, videos, and soundbites that inform and inspire social consciousness, creative thinking, and authentic art. We also recommend books, music, and films that inspire good art and social transformation (or that are just plain fun!).

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Prophet Mohamed is said to have been taken on spiritual night journey on which Allah taught him how to pray.

At first Allah told him that the Muslims should pray 50 times a day. When Mohamed returned to the prophet Moses and informed him of this, Moses begged Mohamed to return and ask Allah to reduce the number of prayers. He sent the prophet back several times, but when the number was finally reduced to five prayers a day, Moses accepted the divine mandate.

Fifty prayers a day for every Muslim would have closed the door on work, study, sleep, eating, procreation, and caring for children, the sick, and the elderly. It would have meant that the community of Muslims would no doubt have faded away as did the American Shakers, who regrettably made universal celibacy an article of faith— and so no longer exist.

If God demanded 50 prayers a day, it could only mean one thing: the obedient must perform every task as if in prayer. Work, study, sleep, eating, procreation, and caring for the weak are all to be undertaken in a spirit of worship and not seen as undesirable duties that must be simply gotten through as quickly as possible on the way to what we think we want to do.

Performing every task as if it were a prayer is another way of achieving mindfulness. Living lovingly in the present, deliberately cultivating a sense of profound gratitude opens us up to the significance of life and grants a tranquility— and a quiet power— to whatever it is we do.

~The Mindful Bard