The Art of Mindfulness

“If you let yourself be absorbed completely,

if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass,

you live more richly those moments.”

Anne Morrow Lindberg

Mindfulness is a process in which we attentively observe our experience as it unfolds, without judgment or eval-uation. It is an awareness of how we think, speak and act. When we are fully engaged in mindfulness practice we are attending to what is happening, to what we are doing, and to the space we are occupying. Studies have revealed that people who focus on the past and future are less likely to be happy than people who concentrate on the present. Anyone can practice mindfulness because it cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs.

            Mindfulness practice can become a way of living when it brings awareness and caring to everything we do cutting down on needless stress. Even a little bit of mind-fulness practice can enhance our lives. It is evidence based. Both science and experience has demonstrated positive correlations between the practice of mindfulness and our health, happiness, work, and relationships.

            A multitude of progressive doctors have recom-mended mindfulness practice for conditions such as in-somnia and irritable bowel syndrome. When we deal with our day to day complexities and uncertainties, mindfulness can lead us to effective and resilient answers to unyielding challenges. Because of our fast pace, media saturated cul-ture, we need support and encouragement concerning un-plugging, slowing down, and connecting to our inner life. Picture ourselves quietly listening to our breath after a hectic morning. We can finish the day by calmly addressing problems with a revitalized understanding. By grasping the indispensable nature of meditation and mindful awareness we intensify the power to positively influence our own mind and experience and to know a well-being not ruled by circumstances. Mindfulness practice is a purposeful, non-judgmental mode of awareness.

The benefits of practicing mindfulness are:

·         Reduction of stress.

·         Increased capacity to focus and concentrate, as well as mental clarity.

·         Freedom from damaging patterns of thought and emotion.

·         Trains our mind to let go of any thought unrelated to the present moment.

·         Increased learning capability and memory.

·         Improved well-being and peacefulness.

·         Fosters the ability to switch between various modes of mental activity which grants flexibility of our attention.

·         Trains a number of our brain functions including attention control, cognitive inha-bitation, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation (Weiss, 2004).   

Part of the mindful process involves meditation. We can meditate in various ways. We don’t have to sit still to meditate. We can take a walk in a beautiful area, or in the city on our lunch hour. Ideally, quiet locations are best. Mindfulness can be done while walking, standing in line at a grocery store or sitting at a desk. We can close our eyes or leave them open and focus on our normal breath. Then move our focus to the task at hand. The important thing is to allow our mind to become quiet. We can set a timer to alert ourselves when it’s time to head back so that we don’t have to think about the time. Then we basically walk at a brisk but comfortable pace. We can allow our mind to focus merely on the experience of moving. We can notice how our body feels moving through space, how our feet lift up and down, how our back holds us upright, how our hips move us forward.

Pay attention to our movement in as much detail as possible, and tune out the outside world. We can move while focusing on our breath, noticing while we inhale and exhale. Or we can count our breaths, starting from one to ten and beginning again. When I go on a walk in the woods I sometimes pay attention to the leaves crunching under my feet, the rustling of branches overhead and the sounds of birds and I feel so peaceful. If we are focusing on our breathing and moving, or counting, our minds will not be able to return to worrying or any other disturbing thoughts.

 The practice of mindfulness involves being mindful while completing daily tasks. Take eating for example. We can pay attention to the food we are eating, how it tastes, and the texture. How does it feel when we are eating the food? Is it warm, hot or cold? So often we are in a rush and eat really fast and before we know it, we have consumed a lot of calories and didn’t really enjoy what we ate. When we eat mindfully, we will enjoy our food a lot more and eat less because we are paying attention to our eating.

Ten tips to assist us with practicing mindfulness fully in our lives:

·         Pay attention to our own perspectives, which involve choosing how we view our lives.   We can perceive ourselves as victims without any control of what happens in our lives or we can see ourselves as masters of our own destiny. We could be in a crowded store one day and not be bothered by the crowd and then another day every nerve is on edge in the same crowded store. It is important to understand that our frustration comes from within and it is not reliant on external sources.

·         We can establish or maintain efficient communication skills to assist us with applying a greater sense of restraint, empathy, or perspective to any communication we have with others which is vital concerning all relationships. All of us have people in our lives who can push our buttons; but being aware of their personality types and how to continue treating these individuals with kindness is vital for our own peace of mind. We can’t be frustrated with someone and be at peace at the same time.

·         Taking the time out of our busy schedules to smell the roses. Oftentimes we can place our focus on the negative things in our lives, even small difficulties such as someone pulling out in front of us when we are driving. We should focus on the wonderful things life has to offer, even our breath is a miracle. We need to focus on what we have instead of what we don’t have.

·         Treating ourselves and others with kindness. When we are kind to others we feel better and more at peace. We live in a world with such high expectations and we can be so critical of ourselves if we don’t live up to our personal expectations. The question “What do you do,” referencing our jobs creates more stress especially if our jobs are not considered mainstream. A friend of mine responded by saying “You mean for money,” great response and it takes everybody off guard. 

·         Compassion is a lot like empathy which means seeing what it is like to be in the shoes of another individual. It means seeing, thinking and feeling what others are experiencing. It’s part of our awareness. It doesn’t mean we take on the pain others are experiencing, it means understanding the pain they are feeling. 

·         Having balance in our lives. Our lives can be like the ebb of the sea with calm and serenity and then there are massive waves capable of capsizing boats. The challenge is to not be swept away by the strong waves of emotion. It is essential to develop a way to  ride the waves and accept the waves as a part of our lives.

·         The process of acceptance includes what we need to let go of, rather than what we need to start doing. There is no such thing as the ideal life free from stressful challenges. We often get frustrated when we don’t get our way. Observe when we are experiencing moments of resistance so we can become more aware of what prevents us from accepting what is actually occurring. 

·         Maintaining a posture of composure and letting go of impatience. Many of us are experiencing busy, hectic lives and in return we are often feeling impatient. During these moments of impatience, our foot may be tapping, our breath is shallower and our jaw is tightening, not peace inducing actions. Notice the impatience and turn that intolerance into a sense of curiosity, the very nature of the irritation we are experiencing is changed. When we become aware of our impatience we will develop a sense of ease.  Just taking the time to notice will change our perspective.

·         Develop a sense of dedication to finish things we started and the ambition we need to start new tasks we need to accomplish. Again, mindfulness is about a shift in thinking and feelings. We will develop an understanding about our motivation and why we are doing things, not just going through the motions.  Find things we are passionate about and do them. 

·         Being present and living life skillfully will prevent us from saying and doing things we will regret later. Think before we say and do things, consider the consequences of our actions. It will give us the strength and wherewithal to respond sensitively to challenging situations rather than reacting spontaneously. By becoming more aware of our-selves and trusting our own instincts more fully, we can learn to apply this quality of discerning our actions in everyday life and begin to live more skillfully (Weiss, 2004).

Living a life of mindfulness means developing an awareness, an understanding of ourselves and others. It’s not about trying to be someone else. It’s about finding a sense of acceptance and ease about who we are at a specific moment in time. Mindfulness practice works because we are not trying to attain benefits. We befriend ourselves as we learn how to drop in and visit with ourselves and just hang out in awareness. Mindfulness meditation allows us time in our busy lives to unleash our curiosity about the workings of our minds while approaching the present moment with warmth and kindness towards ourselves and others. It permits us to take a vacation from fretting about the future or something that just happened. Mindfulness is about establishing a peaceful curiosity by watching, obser-ving, and noticing what is happening in every aspect of our lives, how we act, how we speak, and how we think.