What is Mindfulness? It’s a concept and a practice that comes to us from ancient Eastern traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Yoga. Today it is enjoying a surge of popularity in the West. Mindfulness is coming to be appreciated by mental health professionals and the medical community as a way to reduce stress and promote emotional health and resilience. Some key concepts of Mindfulness include:
- Being present
- Quieting the mind
- Manifesting our desires or intentions
- Increasing conscious awareness
Adopting a practice in Mindfulness involves a shift in perspective about one’s self and one’s reality. To put it another way, one must experience that First Thing that unlocks the mind and opens it to new ways of perceiving. As I see it, The First Thing we must realize is that we are not our thoughts and feelings. We are aware of those thoughts and feelings, and what we choose to do with that awareness will shape our life experience.
From there, I’ve worked to distill some key insights down to their simplest definitions. This is an ongoing process! Here are some concepts that we’ll be investigating:
- There are many ways to access this profound spiritual insight about the distinction between our thoughts, and who we are.
- We must start where we are by accepting what is, here in this moment.
- Access to this insight has always been available. We have access to it from our individual perspective, now, here, in this reality, but we must choose it.
- Through the practice of Mindfulness, it can become easier to access this insight.
- When we truly embrace this insight, it can help free us up to feel and live more as we would like to.
Self awareness, and choice about how we feel and live day to day, are just some of the gifts of living more mindfully. I invite you to join me in an exploration of how we can do this, to improve our lives and our world.