The inspiration for this post comes from my time reading the book: Moment by Moment, Jerry Braza.

What is Mindfulness?

Observe young children and you will quickly notice that the majority of their awareness is on the present moment. They are not concerned with the past or the future. As we age we seem to struggle with such anxiety about the future and worry so much, yet younger children aren’t worried if they’re going to miss the train or be late somewhere, they are able to just enjoy each moment.

The same awareness is observable in the elderly or people who are close to death. Braza speaks about a neighbour who was terminally ill yet started to sit on his porch and just watch nature and get this new sense of beauty and appreciation for his garden.

Definition

Mindfulness can have more than one definition, which can go back thousands of years.

‘Keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality’

‘Being aware of more than one perspective’

Although we may not have been aware of it, there are many different forms of mindfulness: contemplation, prayer, meditation, martial arts or yoga. So if you are familiar to any of these then hopefully mindfulness shouldn’t seem so unfamiliar.

Exercise: read this statement aloud!

‘I love Paris in the
the spring!

Have another go!

Reading the statement again mindfully, you should notice the extra ‘the’ word in the sentence. This is a simple illustration of how we can be trapped by a non-mindful pattern. This is also demonstrated in our robotic way of living: our route to work, how we always respond to people in routine way and how we repetitively perform daily tasks. By learning to ‘wake up’ and become more mindful, we can begin to discover a new perspective in how we live our lives.

Mindset for Mindfulness

So, how do we go about developing mindfulness? Like any new behavior, requires a different mindset. Try considering the following:

Are you able to observe your thoughts without judging?
How often do you judge yourself rather than simply observe the thoughts as they arise?
Do you seek instant pain relief and instant pleasure rather than allowing events to occur at their own time?

Being mindful requires patience.

How often do you wait for others to decide before making a personal decision? Learning to trust yourself rather than looking to others is a key to developing mindfulness.

Most of our waking day is spent in ‘doing’ or striving to go somewhere or get something. Mindfulness starts with ‘being’ and learning to ‘be’ without constant striving.

Do you have a hard time accepting yourself? In practicing mindfulness, you learn to accept each moment and accepting yourself, including pain of the past, failures and problems that you may have.

How often do you ‘hang on’ to these experiences from the past? Mindfulness starts with forgives and letting go. Braza suggests a helpful quote:

‘Hanging on to resentment is allowing someone you despise to live rent free in your head’.

There's plenty of information here which may be difficult to digest but I hope it can be a resourceful start!

Thank you for reading, I hope this brought some valuable knowledge and awareness to you!

Reflective Questions:

1)Did this help and bring value to you?
2)Can you relate to any examples of this in your life?
3)How can I improve for next time?
4)What would you like to learn about next?

Luppers :)