What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a way of being that can create more happiness in your life. It is based on the Buddhist tradition dating back nearly two thousand five hundred years, which focuses on the “vipassana” form of meditation, which means “çlear seeing” in Pali, the language of the Buddha. The word “Buddha” itself means to be aware or to be awake.
There are many definitions of mindfulness. One popular definition, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, who was pivotal in introducing this concept, particularly in North America, is “paying attention in a particular way, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally”. It entails focusing your awareness and senses on whatever you are doing in the present, rather than dwelling on the past or the future. It means living in the moment, not necessarily for the moment.
When you live mindfully, you bring more awareness and happiness to your life. You can savour each moment and experience as life unfolds. You no longer live life on autopilot because of habituated responses; you allow yourself more space, both internally and externally, to make positive, directed choices, which can result in a considerable lowering of your stress level.
Mindfulness can also help you live more responsibly, which, in essence, means making more conscious choices, holding yourself accountable for the consequences of those choices, and developing a sense of mutuality in relationships by sharing decision-making and working cooperatively with your partner/spouse.
Three aspects of mindfulness
Let us examine in greater detail the three main aspects of mindfulness: paying attention, living in the moment and adopting a non-judgmental attitude. Paying attention means narrowing your field of vision so that you can see more clearly and in finer detail. It means being aware of your sensations, feelings and perceptions. You eventually develop a better relationship with these sensations, feelings and perceptions and, in turn, with yourself and others around you.
Living in the moment means centring oneself in what is happening in the now. When your thoughts are not centred, this can generate stress which can negatively affect your health, your relationships and the overall quality of your life. Your emotional energy can become scattered from the chaos of mindlessness (not paying attention).
Adopting a non-judgmental attitude means embracing your moment-to-moment experiences without evaluating them. Jiddu Krishnamurti once remarked that “one of the highest types of intelligence is to observe without evaluation or judgement”. An example of this might be seeing or experiencing your world without labelling it right away.
Mindfulness Meditation
In the Eastern traditions, the breath is viewed as the link between the mind and body. A beginner’s exercise in mindfulness breathing is to sit with your eyes closed, your spine upright, and bring your attention to your breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils. If your attention wanders, you gently bring it back to your breath, which anchors your awareness. In this way, you, often referred to in this context as the witness, can eventually begin to observe and thereby create space between your thoughts, feelings and sensations without necessarily reacting to these. You observe your thoughts without putting emotions into them.
You can use the analogy of a scientist observing wildlife near a river; you, being the scientist, will note what is happening, such as the animals (your thoughts) coming to drink water. You do not attach emotions, pass judgments or dramatize what is happening. You are leaving the thoughts as they are. Over time, these thoughts, deprived of energy, become less and less apparent and eventually subside. This is curative in the sense that it helps you to reduce your stress levels and to be more proactive in every part of your life.
Tigers Above, Tigers Below
The following story illustrates the practice of mindfulness in one’s life.
“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs, and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up, and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly.
Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament we are always in regarding our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life, it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.”
–Pema Chondron
Concluding remarks
The overall effect of mindful living is that you develop greater awareness and, with that, a greater capacity to enjoy present moments and make conscious, healthier choices in your everyday life. In effect, mindfulness becomes a source of joy. Your behaviour is no longer an automatic function of habitual thoughts, perceptions and feelings. Your stress levels decrease as you become more proactive, that is, having more control, and less reactive, that is, behaving more in line with your feelings. Your overall level of happiness dramatically improves.
Reference
Full Catastrophe Living. 1990.Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Mindfulness Breakthrough, 2012, Sarah Silverton
