Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. It means that you control where you want your attention to go and that you are able to keep it focused where you want it to be. So much of the time our mind jumps around like a monkey, from one issue to another or stays fixed on the past or the future. Often when our mind is fixed on the past it brings about depression or adds to depression. When it jumps to the future it often adds to or creates anxiety. Keeping the mind on the here and now can help with healing and easing stress.
Mindfulness is called a practice because it is very rare to ever get to the point of being mindful every day all day long. Practicing keeping your mind focused on the here and now improves your ability to be mindful. It can help you ground yourself and help you manage anxiety and depression.
You can start practicing mindfulness by taking a few moments each day and focusing your attention either inward to what you are feeling and thinking. Just observe without judgment your thoughts and then your feelings or vice versa. Just notice. If you tend to go inward too often, focus your attention externally. Choose a soothing noise or a beautiful view or even a smooth stone. What you focus on, as long as it is not upsetting to you, doesn’t matter. For a few moments let go of all distractions and focus your attention. Just let yourself be.
Try practicing several times a day. Let go of the feeling of urgency when in truth there is no reason to be acting urgently. Too often we are rushing, stressing, pushing ourselves, banging our hands on the steering wheel because we are late for a meeting or getting to the gym or for an appointment. None of that helps us get there faster. And how critical is it really? Certainly inconvenient, certainly annoying, and maybe even detrimental to our careers or business. But stressing ourselves to the max doesn’t change the situation for the better, but instead only makes it worse. So next time maybe take a deep breath, be mindful that there is nothing you can do and accept the situation, getting to your destination as soon as you can but with less stress.
Jon Kabat-Zinn offers tapes and books on learning mindfulness on his website: eomega.org.
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