Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention, on purpose and without judgment, to what is happening in the present moment. It does not mean quieting the mind or getting rid of thoughts. It is not the same thing as meditation, though meditation practice can be a powerful mindfulness tool. It is more about developing the ability to choose what we pay attention to, and then to see what is actually happening rather than what we might imagine or fear. We learn that we are happier when we stop comparing our present experience with our expectations, memories, or fantasies.
“Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.”
A lot of people’s suffering on a daily basis has to do with fears about the future or regrets about the past. Learning to bring attention to the present moment can be effective for reducing worry or rumination. Staying awake to what is happening in the moment can also provide opportunities to notice when we are engaged in reactive or repetitive behaviors, allowing us to identify unwanted feelings or experiences we may be avoiding. This awareness allows us to begin to choose to repeatedly turn toward difficult feelings and experiences with more understanding, wisdom, courage, and compassion. Mindfulness helps us increase the capacity to embrace our feelings without being carried away by them.
One way to do this is through mindful awareness of body sensations. We tend to get lost in our thoughts and lose touch with the information and wisdom our body offers. Mindfulness of body sensations can calm and quiet excessive thinking, creating new pathways for releasing stress and making space for acceptance of healthy emotional experience.
Acceptance of emotions and situations as they are is nearly always a core part of healing. This means moving towards difficult feelings, noticing them and allowing them, being aware of them in the physical body, really making room for them and letting go of the need to make them go away. As we develop this capacity for mindful awareness, positive states of gratitude, joy and happiness begin to become more readily available. We can become less reactive in life, more resilient, and better able to embrace struggles and challenges as opportunities.