Meditations on Mindfulness
After many years of sitting criss-cross on a cushion, I’ve given up my meditation practice. Yup, I cancelled my Insight Timer subscription and retired the guilty feelings that erupted when I missed a day of zazen.
But most of all, I stopped fighting with my scattered brain twenty minutes a day. This doesn’t mean I’ve given up my desire for peace of mind. Quite the contrary, I now focus on sprinkling a healthy dose of mindfulness throughout my day.
I’ve always been a big fan of mindfulness, but felt as though it didn’t have the heft of meditation - Where is the discipline? The health benefits? The spiritual ritual?
Until, that is, I realized that mindfulness has all that and so much more….
***************
When people tell me they don’t “get mindfulness” I tell them: “It’s simple. You stay in the present moment and focus on your senses.”
And often they come back with : “I’ll stick with meditation. I want to clear my mind, not make it more full.”
So I explain: “Not ‘mind full’ as in a full mind, but mindful like when you were a kid and your mom said ‘mind your manners.’ She was telling you to pay attention to how you were acting or speaking. That kind of mindful - with one “l” not two.”
I think it is a common misconception - mindfulness is often mindlessly lumped under the meditation umbrella (even though it should actually be the other way around - meditation is a form of mindfulness). And we’ve been sold the meditation-cure for decades now: sit criss-cross on a cushion, clear your mind and resolve your (fill in the offending dis-ease here).
Sure meditation can be really beneficial. But unless it’s up your alley, it can also be really frustrating. For me, after years of trying to be a meditator, I’ve realized it’s just not my cup of tea. Luckily, meditation is not the only way to bring about inner peace.
I’ve always talked about how important it is to “stay present” (the past is an illusion the future is a dream, the present is a gift) but I didn’t really get how life altering it is until I read The Miracle of Mindfulness by the Buddhist monk Thich Nat Hahn. He believed that mindfulness is “quietening the chattering mind, staying present, being mindful of your thoughts” Just me, my senses, and the physical world, no cushions, singing bowls or incense required. Yeah, I can dig that.
Mindfulness is not about emptying your head of thoughts (an impossible feat, actually), and it’s not about filling your mind with chants and ohms. It is about being aware of your thoughts as well as all of the other real things in your immediate environment. I think of mindfulness as focusing so intently on the present moment with all of my senses that the past and future melt away into irrelevancy. In essence, I am mindful of everything going on around me.
Another form of mindfulness that I find very intriguing is what Jon Kabat Zinn calls “choiceness awareness” or “meandering meditation.” This involves following my distractions and (ironically) learning to not become distracted by them. Basically, instead of working to focus on the present moment, it is just as mindful to follow the mind where it wants to go, to let it wander (and to stop trying to control it!). I’ve found this method to be helpful when I am struggling with a problem or in need of some inspiration. After a while of not trying creative thoughts just pop into my head.
Mindfulness is an easy way to bring peace of mind to your day. It requires no special equipment or training and very little effort. So if, like me, you’ve realized that meditation is not for you, try adding some mindfulness to your day.
Two short and sweet mindfulness activities:
All your senses
Go outside. Leave your phone in the house. Sit in the grass.
Close your eyes. Listen to all of the sounds around you. Listen beyond the obvious to hear the smallest quietest murmurings.
Reach out and feel the grass. Notice the sensations as the cool blades slip through your fingers.
Take a deep breath inhaling the scent of the air. Notice the subtleties of the fragrances, can you pick out the individual scents?
Open your eyes. What do you see? Notice the colours, shapes, patterns.
Slow Walk
Try going for a walk at half your normal speed. Notice how your body moves. Feel each step hitting the ground. Look all around you, notice the plants, the creatures, Revel in your surroundings as though you are an alien visiting earth for the first time.
I hope you have a wonderful day filled with many opportunities for mindfulness. Thank you for reading my work today!
💙 Katherine
”Try going for a walk at half your normal speed.” I love that. The walk as not yet another task, not as a secret workout.