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Mindfulness

Mindfulness is translated from the Sanskrit word Smriti, literal translation means remembering.

 

Mindfulness is synonymous with awareness and attention, or “bare attention”. Attention is not a technique or something new we need to know or attain.

 

Awareness is the conscious registration of stimuli, including the five physical senses, the kinesthetic senses, and the activities of the mind.

 

Awareness is our direct and immediate contact with reality. Attention is engaged when a stimulus is sufficiently strong, which manifests initially as “taking notice” of, or “turning toward” the object of awareness.

We can only know awareness by Being aware. Therefore, mindfulness is the quality of our mind that manifests bare-attention. It is the observing (being aware) of things as they are, without choosing, without judgements, without comparing, without evaluating and without overlaying or adding any of our own biases, projections or expectations onto what is happening.

 

Being mindful can be described as having a clear, calm mind that is focused on the present moment in a non-judgemental way, the ability to see “just this”.

 

Mindfulness in practice is a way of orienting one’s self to the present moment and involves maintaining awareness on one’s immediate experience, as opposed to being distracted by thoughts of past or future, or in avoidance of one’s experience.

 

Cultivating mindfulness involve regular practice in which the participant focuses attention on a particular stimulus, such as one’s breath, sensations in the body, etc., during a particular period of time. Such practices help to cultivate ‘‘everyday mindfulness.’’

Everyday mindfulness involves maintaining the open, accepting, and present focus of attention during day-to-day, or moment-to-moment activities.

 

Mindfulness can only really be known through the actual practice of being mindful.