From the East – February 2022

Let me explain. Interrupting our daily routines not only adds variety to our lives but attending a Regular Communication can also interrupt the usual flow of stress in our daily lives. There is something soothing just in the act of walking into a Lodge room.

There is also a strong social aspect to Freemasonry that should not be overlooked. Attending a regular communication breaks the isolation that the last few years have imposed on us. In fact, psychological studies indicate that people with more social support tend to live longer and social engagement is correlated with a stronger immune system. In addition, interacting with others increases feelings of well-being and decreases feelings of depression (Psychology Today). Research studies have shown that “an active and socially integrated lifestyle in late life might protect against dementia.”

Recent research studies also indicate that remaining mindful in certain activities, most likely in our case, during ritual, can lead to short and long-term improvement in sustained attention. Mindfulness can be defined as awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgment. I believe that mindfulness occurs when we become proficient at attending less and less on our own thoughts and concerns and focusing more and more on the present moment. Those in the chairs quickly learn that becoming distracted by our own thoughts can often lead to missing cues and late responses.

Brain research is demonstrating that mindfulness can lead to beneficial structural changes in our grey matter. According to Sara Davin, PsyD, MPH, data shows that meditation might serve to slow down or even prevent age-related thinning of the frontal cortex. This area of the brain contributes to the formation of memories. Dr. Lazar and her team also discovered that those who meditated in their 40’s and 50’s had the same amount of grey matter as those in their 20’s and 30’s.

I am including a questionnaire called the FFMQ, which you can use to assess your own levels of Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Nonjudging of Inner Experience and Nonreactivity to Inner Experience.

See you on February 14, 2022, dinner at 6:30 PM and Meeting at 7:30 PM. Ben Franklin will be joining us.

Fraternally,
WM John Quintana