Mindfulness

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way on purpose in the present moment and in a non-judgmental way (Jon Kabat-Zinn).

Mindfulness can take the form of nothing more than taking three successive breaths while remembering you are a conscious experience of body activity within mind. More formal way is practicing mediation. And keeping touch with our breathing is particularly helpful when it is difficult to establish a regular meditation practice.

The benefits of Mindfulness include the following:

• Reduced mind chatter
• Experience more peace
• Clarity of mind
• Less reactivity
• More acceptance
• Greater ability to listen, to be present
• Expanding awareness
• Greater attention span
• Improved ability to respond to external demands

As we loosen up our mental activity, patterns at deeper layers of consciousness can emerge. We will discover more about our true self. But to do so, we need to be:

• Non-judging
• Patience – allow things to unfold in their own time
• Having beginner’s mind – see as if for the first time
• Trust our own feelings, allow our experience to flow and more receptive to others’ experience
• Non-striving - allow us to step into who we are right now
• Acceptance - allow things to be as they are now instead of resisting
• Letting go of the need to control things. Letting things be.