Turning Into Mindfulness : How To Live In The Moment
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Read more: Turning Into MindfulnessThe Meaning of Mindfulness
Welcome to Chapter 2; we’re going to talk more about mindfulness, so first, let’s talk about what mindfulness is. It’s a popular term nowadays, but what does it mean? Basically it means paying attention on purpose to what’s going on in the present moment, so mindfulness is an act of observation if you pay a little bit attention, you may notice that throughout your day a lot of times you’re just going on autopilot going through the motions on to the next thing, but with being mindful we take a moment and observe what’s actually really going on in the present moment, and most notably one of the things that we may not pay attention to is our thinking at any given moment, and being mindful helps us be able to do that, be able to pay attention to our thinking what mindfulness isn’t ,it isn’t something magical it isn’t necessarily spiritual your own individual spiritual or religious practice could have mindful elements, mindfulness could be used to complement those it doesn’t contradict or go against those things but the act in it of itself does not have to be attached to any religious teachings, it’s just simply an act of taking a moment taking your awareness and paying attention to what’s going on in the present moment, and as I will outline here in a little bit there’s different practices that we can do to help us do a better job of doing that but the actual act of doing that is just paying attention taking your awareness and placing it on the present moment and observing what’s going on what information we’re getting through our senses and what information our body is giving us and what information our mind and our brain is giving us. Origins of mindfulness could be traced back to very very early human history but it is typically attributed to Eastern culture ,Buddhism, Taoism, Eastern philosophy, Eastern religions, however many ancient cultures talk about in their own different way taking time paying attention to your present moment things that we may today label as meditation or mindful walking so very early on we realized like hey being able to bring our focus and awareness back into the present moment what’s going on with us what’s going on with our thinking that’s a very useful thing here in Western culture in the United States late 70s early 80s gentlemen professor and author by the name of Jon Kabat-Zinn is typically attributed to helping bring and popularize it here in the West so he worked at the University of Massachusetts and through his own mindfulness Practice helped develop a program for individuals at the medical school there who were patients who were going through various treatments there and he thought maybe adding a mindfulness practice might help them improve their results in their recovery, guess what he was right! And from that, he developed a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and since then, there have been many offshoots of that. He’s written a few books, which I recommend which a lot of the concepts from this book are pulled from. It has an excellent way of explaining what we’re trying to accomplish while being mindful, so that’s a little bit of what we’re trying to achieve when we talk about being mindful and practicing mindfulness.
The Core Principles of Mindfulness 1
So in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s writings on being mindful and teaching it to beginners, giving them a way to understand it he broke it down into seven core principles that we can use to help understand what being mindful is, and what being in the present moment involves so this doesn’t mean that these are steps in each moment you have to try to follow in order to be mindful, that would be difficult mostly this is a description that in being mindful this is some of the elements and some of the things that you bring into the moment or you experience while being mindful, so first he talks about having a beginner’s mind so with mindful observation taking in each moment as if you were a beginner or with that same curiosity so imagine a time you were trying something new for the first time, or you visited a place for the first time, first time you saw a mountain or a skyscraper or something like that if you put yourself back in that experience you could realize that hey in that moment when you’re experiencing something new your senses are wide open you’re taking everything in you’re paying attention, you’re in the moment and you’re trying to get the most out of what that moment is giving you, and what information that’s giving you, so his encouragement is to when being mindful have that element about the present moment about your observations that level of curiosity that level of wonder that level of okay let’s see how this goes let’s see how this turns out. Principle number two is the attitude of non-judging. Non-judging right, so we’ve had a lot of experiences in our life, some good and pleasurable, some not so pleasant, and as we accumulate those experiences, we can get ideas to get preconceived notions about how something’s going to turn out because hey we’ve had an experience, you could realize that at that moment when you’re experiencing something new your senses are wide open you’re taking everything in , you’re paying attention, you’re in the moment and you’re trying to get the most out of what that moment is giving you and what information that’s giving you. So his encouragement is to when being mindful, have that element about the present moment, about your observations, that level of curiosity, that level of wonder, that level of okay, let’s see how this goes, let’s see how this turns out. Principle number two the attitude of non judging; we’ve had a lot of experiences in our life some good and pleasurable some not so pleasant and as we accumulate those experiences we can get ideas get preconceived notions about how something’s going to turn out because hey we’ve had an experience or we’ve heard about an experience before and so we’re going to have a thought before something ever happens about how it’s going to be the value of it what the experience is going to be like right to a certain extent that’s useful but those judgments can get in the way of our experience can interfere with our ability to have the present experience just the way that it is so coming into the situation without judgment can also help us having that curiosity having that awareness being able to take things in as they are our decisions get in the way at times if we already have a preconceived idea about how something is going to be then we might not be as aware of indicators in the moment that hey it might be different than what we thought right because we are still attached to that preconceived notion so second principle is to approach the situation with an attitude of non judgment and that leads to the third one . Acceptance allows us to accept what is easier, so whatever’s happening in the present moment, that’s what’s happening; that’s what’s going on. Resistance to what’s happening causes us stress, not wanting to be here or wishing for something else. To wish something else was going on makes it more difficult to tolerate the present moment acceptance doesn’t mean that you necessarily approve of what’s going on or want it to happen again or anymore, but what you can say is. Hey, this is what’s happening; if I’m caught in the rain, I’m going for a walk. There’s a downpour, and I don’t have a raincoat or an umbrella; you know I might not be too happy about it, but there’s not anything I could do about it until I get home so I could either be mad about it or I can accept it and say, well I guess I’m getting wet today right. So two different experiences; if I’m able to bring some acceptance into that, then principle number four patients having patients being able to allow and let the present moment play out the way that it’s going to play out a lot of times, we are quick to want to change it quickly to want to put effort and energy into making a difference than what it is being patient being able to bring what we need to get into the present moment and allow to play out can increase our effectiveness in a lot of different areas.
The Core Principles of Mindfulness 2 and Misconceptions
Principle number 5. Trust. Trust, that being patient, accepting the present moment suspending our judgment opens up the ability to have more trust in the information we get out of the present moment. have more trust not to have to add things to the present moment and use the information that we’re getting and trust that that’s enough for us. to be able to be effective we don’t have to go up into our heads and add a whole bunch of other things, to the present moment let’s respond as effectively as we can to the information that we’re observing in the present moment that speaks to the following principle, non-striving.
Non-striving, so of course, we put effort and energy into accomplishing a lot of things throughout the day perfectly okay and encouraged; what this principle speaks to is, hey, coming into the present moment when we’re being mindful when we are in a state of observation just focused on our awareness we’re taking in what information is coming into the present moment we’re not striving to change it striving for it to be different resisting what’s happening we are going to take it as is and then if in the present moment the most effective thing for us to do is to take some action one way or another and that’s going to be decided based on the information we get in the present moment our mindful observation of it we’re not bringing anything extra into the present moment that might not be useful and then the last, number 7 last but not least, letting go. so after we go through all this we observe the present moment mindfully we accept what it is we’re patient and we trust the information we’re getting we don’t strive to change it and we respond as effectively as we can in the present moment then we let that go and start over in the next moment being able to with each breath hit the reset button and renew and that allows us to carry less of the day with us less of our stress that we pick up throughout the day with us being able to say hey, once I’m as effective as I can be in this moment there’s nothing more to do here let’s move on to the next moment observe and be as effective as we can be with the next moment easier said than done that’s why it takes practice and that’s why we develop mindfulness practices so these were the initial 7 principles of mindfulness that he wrote about. if you catch videos he’s made in recent times; he’s added two more that he feels like our ways to enter the present moment mindfully with gratitude and with generosity, gratitude appreciation. Hence, if there’s something that you have in your life right now that you’re happy with, you have. at least one thing, you’re pleased that you have it; you’d be really distressed if you weren’t to have it, so being able to focus and bring that attitude of gratitude into each moment helps us stay focused on what is not have the urge to resist not have the urge to strive for things to be different, because we’re feeling grateful right. in generosity wanting to give wanting to whether that’s time whether that’s material whether that’s effort and energy saying hey, I have something let me give that with the hope that this will benefit the recipient of who I’m giving it to with the hope that it’ll benefit the universe. the universe will be improved because of what I’m giving at this moment, so those are some bonus principles of mindfulness. Still, in this book, we’ll focus on the first 7, so some of the misconceptions about being mindful, like I said earlier, misconceptions that this is some sort of religious or something along those lines. As I said, it doesn’t have to be. If your spiritual practice is essential to you and it means a lot to you, this could be a compliment, a supplement to what you’re already doing, and if not, you don’t have to add any of those elements to it. another misconception is that mindfulness is something we can do right or wrong. so, for example, if I’m learning a song on the piano, there are certain notes I have to play, I have to play it at a certain tempo, and the piano should be tuned, so there are certain things that I need to do to do it correctly. If I practice it and I play the first line of the song, and I hit the wrong note, and I mess up, and I have to start all over and try it again until I get it right. mindfulness doesn’t work like that, so if I’m sitting here focusing on my breathing, focusing on the present moment. Then I get up and start thinking about the future and the past. I didn’t mess up the song like I liked went practicing the piano. The idea is, hey, notice that I’m not in the moment and bring myself back. notice that I’m not in a moment and bring myself back. That is the practice. The practice is catching yourself and bringing yourself back the idea that you have to be sitting there with absolutely no thought, absolutely nothing going on, to be mindful it’s not true; it’s the observation of whatever is going on, so if thinking is what’s happening in the present moment then thinking is what’s happening in the present moment the idea is to be able to observe that and see its usefulness or lack thereof at the moment how does this serve whatever effectiveness. I’m trying to execute here in the present moment; if I try to sit and meditate for 30 minutes and 29 minutes, and 30 seconds, my mind’s all over the place. I’m trying to bring it back. Hey, great, if I try to meditate for 30 minutes and that whole 30 minutes peaceful thoughtless observation of what’s going on, hey, that’s great; they’re both just as good, so a lot of times with my clients, they get in their heads like I can’t do it I keep messing up I keep thinking about things every time I try to meditate I tell them great good job, so those are the core principles of mindfulness hopefully they help give a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish here and hopefully if there’s any misconceptions or judgments about what being mindful might be hopefully this helps ease some of those.
Benefits of Mindfulness and Establishing a Practice
So now I’m going to talk about mindfulness’s benefits. having a mindfulness practice some of the changes that people have been able to observe in themselves if they can put some time and effort into establishing a mindfulness practice. so when I say these are benefits of mindfulness, what I mean by that is they’re evidence-based and what that means is that there’s been research done and observations made of people before and after. whenever they’ve established mindfulness practice, what changes have been observed or reported, and you know, not just one instance but many over time, many experiments were done over time those experiments reviewed by other professionals in the field replicated then after a number of times of being able to replicate it and getting similar results we can say, hey, we’re pretty confident that this is evidence-based and so that’s what I mean by that so some of the evidence-based benefits of establishing and mindfulness practice one reduction of stress that makes sense stress is a natural thing we feel it’s designed to help motivate us to put energy into
and solve the problems right in front of us give us a little motivation as we all know it can get overwhelming if it builds up too much well if you imagine that with our mind going a mile a minute thinking about all the problems of our life and us responding with the stress response every with every thought that happens it could get real easy for that to get to the overwhelming point so what mindfulness does it breaks up that momentum take a deep breath notice if where our focus is where our attention is is on something that we can actually do something about in the present moment and relieve the stress. that way or if we’re focused on something outside of our control or something that’s not happening right now because our body will still respond with stress even if it’s something that’s not happening right now and then we have the stress to motivate us to solve the problem and absolutely no ability to do anything about it so that’s how the stress built up and gets overwhelming so mindfulness can help us observe that see that that’s what we’re doing and give us an opportunity to make a choice to do something more effective which is focus on what we can control on what is happening in the present moment next is better sleep so if you think about what I just talked about if we can reduce that amount of time we spend focused on stressful things then hey then we’ll spend more time relaxed and at peace and that could be particularly useful at night because I know from personal experience that’s a lot of times when the brain can be racing the mind can be going to a lot of different problems that we need to solve it’s middle of the night and we’re laying bed the only problem we need to solve is falling asleep so learning to be able to observe that learning to be able to redirect that learning to be able to come back into the present moment notice when we’re focused on something that’s not useful in the moment getting good at that getting proficient at that establishing a practice of that can translate to our ability to set those things down and leave the problems of the day where they are and get some sleep so that we can attend to them the next day increased focus it’s another one so you can understand why if we are mind’s going mile minute all the stresses and problems that we have going on popping in all the time might be hard for us to focus on what’s going on right now and from our previous descriptions of mindfulness you can see hey the actual practice can help us with that take a deep breath pay attention to the information of the present moment and focus in on that a lot of us have a skill or talent and maybe without even knowing it we practice mindfulness while doing that particular skill or talent if we know how to dance if we know how to paint if we know how to draw if we know how to play a musical instrument anything that we’re good at when we get in that flow and things are happening and it seems like we’re not even thinking about it we’re just in the moment going with it that’s what I’m talking about so being able to be mindful pay attention to what’s going on in the present moment can help us focus in and be more effective in completing a task that’s right in front of us greater a raw feeling of calmness sense of calm so again all our problems all at once seems like a very stressful very anxiety filled and eventually a very discouraging existence right a lot of worry when we’re thinking about everything all at once right so if we can be mindful focus on just what’s right in front of us and just what we can control may help us calm down a little bit may help us be able to take a deep breath and say okay maybe I can handle just this for now if I give myself permission to handle just this for now whats right in front of me maybe I won’t be as anxious and frantic as I was when I was thinking about all the things all at once right stronger memory that makes sense if we’re paying more attention to the things that are happening in the present moment then it’s probably more likely we’re going to remember what happened in that moment whereas if we’re distracted if we’re off somewhere else if we’re thinking about this thatbor the other and something’s going on it may be hard for us to later on say what was going on then what was going on in that moment so mindfulness practice can help us with that improved physical health as I said earlier stress is a very useful tool it’s designed to help motivate us to help solve the important problems that are right in front of us and it’s meant to only be temporary temporary boost but many of us spend our lives in constant stress well come to find out that’s not good for the cells in our body that’s not good for our immune system so our health can be improved if we’re able to focus in on the present moment reduce the amount of excess stress that we’re experiencing and then if we are doing stuff to improve our physical health such as exercise being mindful helps make that more effective lifting weights is going to be a lot more effective if you’re able to pay attention and be in the moment while you’re lifting weights and not be distracted it’s gonna be a lot safer too you’ll be able to run longer or do more jumping jacks if you can stay in the present moment if you get up in your head and say oh man this is hard well any athlete will tell you that’s going to interfere with performance right what we eat what we put into our body when we are not paying attention not being aware not being mindful we may grab the easiest and most convenient thing but be able to take a moment and observe what’s going on and pay attention to what would be best for us what we may need in this moment and take the time to provide that for ourselves and take the time to provide that for ourselves we might be more likely to cook a healthier meal or take put more effort and energy into our nutrition so mindfulness can help our physical health in all sorts of ways and as you hear me describe these things and you think about the increase in effectiveness in all these areas you could probably start to imagine that hey if I can have some improvement in these areas I might start feeling better about myself I might start feeling more confident in myself and my ability to be effective and solve problems so practicing mindfulness is known to help people develop a greater sense of self esteem belief in yourself and that’s really what we’re talking about today it’s this is a mindfulness workbook for self love right so feeling better about yourself well one thing is increasing your effectiveness in these areas really does help you feel better about yourself and leads to a greater sense of happiness so those are some things that have shown to improve with establishing a mindfulness practice and that word practice is very important so a mindfulness practice just means practicing doing things that helps us be mindful so a lot of people ask me questions like Joel are mindfulness and meditation the same thing and the answer is kind of so mindfulness is like I said is the actual act of paying attention and observing using our awareness in the present moment to observe what’s going on in the present moment something like meditation is an actual practice right so to use an analogy so there’s basketball right I might want to make the basketball team right but in doing that I may practice shooting free throws I may practice shooting 3 pointers right so I’m practicing something that’s helping me make me better at basketball if that makes sense so when I sit down to meditate and I pay attention to my breathing and I just notice what I’m thinking and feeling in this present moment and I sit down for 30 minutes and just practice doing that that’s like getting in the gym and practicing the free throws for if I want to make the basketball team and then I practice that for 30 minutes and then later on that day because I practiced I might be more likely to bring myself to the present moment if I’m waiting in line at the store and it’s taken a little bit longer than I think it should or somebody comes to me with a problem and I’m really busy at the time right I might be likely to be take a deep breath and be more mindful in that moment because I practiced so mindfulness practice is just doing something to help you practice being mindful so I mentioned one meditation just simple tried and true sitting down and focus on your breathing there’s also no shortage of guided meditations if you click on the YouTube and type in guided meditation you’re gonna have plenty to choose from right so that’s that’s one practice there’s other practices so mindful walking that’s a practice that people do from time to time where I’m intentionally going to pay attention to my walking the muscles in my body used for walking the contact my feet make with the ground when I walk the sensation of moving through my environment that’s a practice you’re practicing being mindful eating I’m going to pay attention to my food as I prepare it as I prepare to eat it as I put it in my mouth as I chew as I swallow I’m going to pay attention to each element of it and really be in the moment and get out of my head get out of my thinking get out of all distractions and pay attention to that it’s a practice mindful eating and so on and so on and so on if somebody is struggling with this one of my clients I try to get creative with it and find different ways for them to be able to practice mindfulness if some of the formal ways aren’t really appealing to them attach it to something that they’re already doing but can you do it in a more mindful way can you use this as a mindfulness practice anything that’s mundane and repetitive and doesn’t take a lot of mental energy stuff like washing the dishes or cleaning your room or folding your laundry turn that into a mindfulness practice paying attention to how the shirt feels as it comes out of the dryer the heat and the smell paying attention to how it feels as you fold it or put it on a hanger really allowing yourself to get permission to let go of everything else and just be in the moment and guess what people say wow I like folding laundry more after doing it like that so a practice is just like any other practice you do it to try to improve your ability in that area so establishing a mindfulness practice is the same as that so thanks for tuning in hopefully this helps with your understanding a little bit more about mindfulness and we are going to talk about how we’re going to apply it to what we’re trying to accomplish here which is helping you develop a greater sense of self love and self appreciation.