What is Mindfulness?

 

Mindfulness is the state of experiencing the present moment.  If we slow down, acknowledge the realness of our surroundings, and forfeit our addiction to our own mental commentary, we just might feel ourselves actually living.  This sensation of  "aliveness" - plain and simple - is what it means to be mindful.

 

    We were born mindful. It is a pure and organic way to be.  It is a state of openness to what is before us.  It is a willingness to humbly take life in; to listen; to be on the receiving end of this moment's message. 

 

   As we grow older, we begin to fear that this state of being is incomplete or "not enough". We lose trust in the art of simply connecting with life, because we fear we will be unprepared or out of control if we aren't constantly tuned in to our rambling mental chatter. We always strive to "add more" onto the present moment through appraising it and judging it.  We are also always striving to multi-task (to plan and control things outside of the present moment) -  but doing so only takes us further away from our aliveness. 

 

      Of course, there are many times when planning and analyzing and "mental multi-tasking" are perfectly essential and unavoidable.  To function in this world, we absolutely must be good at judging, analyzing, and having several thoughts at once.  Our active minds serve as  essential adaptations to this complex world.  The problem is not that we can over-think.  The problem is that we have become so good at it, that we do it automatically.  We've become so addicted to this state of "mental multi-tasking" that we do it on autopilot.  We do it even when we do not need to; we do it even when it's detrimental.   We could truly benefit from stopping and asking ourselves if the situation we are in truly demands our wandering, chattering mind.  Many times, the answer will be that  it is in fact safe for us to allow ourselves to be in the present moment- the compulsive thinking is not benefitting us after all, but is merely an automatic habit.

 

     We have a choice between intentionally bouncing back and forth between these mental states.  In the situations where planning/judging/appraising are necessary, we can absolutely give ourselves permission to go about our usual mental multi-tasking.  However, this should be an intentional choice that we make rather than our mind's default setting.  Through "simply being" in the present moment, we can allow ourselves to access joy and peace right here at our fingertips.  An inner sense of joy and calmness is available to us. It resides in each breath we take, and in the quiet refuge of our moment-to-moment awareness.  

 

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

-Thich Nhat Hanh