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Mindfulness means to be present, in the moment, undistracted. It implies resting the mind in its natural state of awareness, which is free of any bias or judgment.
mindfulness means to be present. It means being ‘in the moment’, experiencing life directly as it unfolds, rather than being distracted, caught up and lost in thought. It’s not a contrived or temporary state of mind that you need to somehow create and maintain. On the contrary, it’s a way of stepping back and resting the mind in its natural state, free from the usual chaos.
having fun, enjoying yourself, laughing and smiling are wonderful aspects of life. Who wouldn’t want to experience more of these things? But life’s not continually like that. Stuff happens. And that ‘stuff’ is not always nice. As much as we try to ignore the fact, life can be difficult, stressful, upsetting and even painful at times.
By changing the way in which you see the world, you effectively change the world around you.
we’re so busy doing stuff the whole time that we no longer have any reference point for what it means to be still, simply resting the mind. We’ve become addicted to ‘doing stuff’, even if it’s just thinking.
You start to listen to what they’re actually saying, rather than thinking about what you’d like them to say or what you’re going to say next. And when these things begin to happen you’ll notice that your relationships with others really start to change.
meditation, within a mindful context, was not about stopping thoughts and controlling the mind. It was a process of giving up control, of stepping back, learning how to focus the attention in a passive way, while simply resting the mind in its own natural awareness.
‘Happiness is just happiness,’ he went on, ‘no big deal. It comes and it goes. Sadness is just sadness, no big deal. It comes and it goes. If you can give up your desire to always experience pleasant things, at the same time as giving up your fear of experiencing unpleasant things, then you’ll have a quiet mind.’
emotion itself is often not the problem. It’s the way we react to it that causes the problem.
Emotions are the filter between ‘us’ and the ‘world’.
Headspace does not mean being free from emotions, but rather existing in a place where you are at ease with whatever emotion is present.
And so it goes on, moving from one activity to the next with purpose, focus and awareness.
This idea of being aware and awake to each and every new moment is potentially very exciting.
The present moment just feels so ordinary that we take it for granted, and yet that’s what makes it so extraordinary – the fact that we so rarely experience the present moment exactly as it is.
This is what it means to be mindful, to be present, to be aware.
the journey to acceptance is about discovering what we need to let go of, rather than what we need to start doing.
