Being mindful means intentionally turning off the autopilot mode in which we operate so much of the time– brooding about the past, for instance, or worrying about the future—and instead tuning in to things as they are in the present with full awareness. It means knowing that our thoughts are passing mental events, not reality itself, and that we are more in touch with life as it is when we allow ourselves to experience things through the body and our senses rather than mostly through our unexamined and habitual thoughts.
