Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice in attention and awareness in the present moment. It is grounded in thousands of years of ancient Buddhist wisdoms. The benefits that Mindfulness provides is heavily supported in scientific research. As a result, funding goes toward training Mindfulness Teachers. This then allows courses based in Mindfulness such as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction to be implemented in health care settings as treatments for psychological difficulties and beyond. Today Mindfulness is all around us.

I first became aware of Mindfulness after discovering Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, and his teachings on Mindfulness. I have since been on a journey of curiosity in exploring what Mindfulness has to offer. Formal meditations, to the more informal have been stumbled on and how such practices may also be practiced off the meditation cushion. I am finding it to be an important part of my life and I am now training as a Mindfulness Teacher. I wanted to put to paper and share some of what has been found so far in my expedition.

What I have found mindfulness NOT to be

• Silencing the mind.
• Only available to practice when sitting down in quiet
• Ignoring or suppressing emotions, thoughts or even physical sensations.
• Having expectations or putting pressure on ourselves to feel a certain way such as relaxed.
• Perfect
• Something to be good or bad at, or to be successful or a failure in. It is to simply BE.
• A quick fix
• Something that always requires long periods of time to be carved out.  
• It is not an opportunity to judge or to be critical towards ourselves.

What I have found through mindfulness

• The mind will wonder, and thoughts will enter the mind because this is just what minds do.
• Mindfulness invites us to stay with our direct moment to moment experience.
• Allows patterns of the mind to be noticed.
• Gives space to make wise choices.
• Illuminates how we experience life through our senses and in the body.
• Turning towards what may be present for us with kindness, curiosity and without judgement.
• Mindfulness gives us more time. In being more present throughout the day we are living in the here and now rather than dwelling in the past or living in the future. We are embracing the very moment instead of waiting for a specific event or time in the day to live.
• Paying attention to the more mundane moments of life; such as filling up your water bottle, making a tea, commuting, doing chores, being in traffic.
• It provides an opportunity to live in our life rather than in our heads.
• It is something to be cultivated and a practice that continues to deepen and unfold over time.
• Patience.