What is mindfulness?
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I like Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness.
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way;
On purpose,
in the present moment, and
nonjudgmentally.”
Kabat-Zinn, if you haven’t heard of him, is a famous teacher of mindfulness meditation and the founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
First of all, mindfulness involves paying attention “on purpose”. Mindfulness involves a conscious direction of our awareness. We sometimes (me included) talk about “mindfulness” and “awareness” as if they were interchangeable terms, but that’s not a good habit to get into. I may be aware I’m irritable, but that wouldn’t mean I was being mindful of my irritability. In order to be mindful I have to be purposefully aware of myself, not just vaguely and habitually aware. Knowing that you are eating is not the same as eating mindfully.
Let’s take that example of eating and look at it a bit further. When we are purposefully aware of eating, we are consciously being aware of the process of eating. We’re deliberately noticing the sensations and our responses to those sensations. We’re noticing the mind wandering, and when it does wander we purposefully bring our attention back.
When we’re eating unmindfully we may in theory be aware of what we’re doing, but we’re probably thinking about a hundred and one other things at the same time, and we may also be watching TV, talking, or reading — or even all three! So a very small part of our awareness is absorbed with eating, and we may be only barely aware of the physical sensations and even less aware of our thoughts and emotions.
Because we’re only dimly aware of our thoughts, they wander in an unrestricted way. There’s no conscious attempt to bring our attention back to our eating. There’s no purposefulness.
This purposefulness is a very important part of mindfulness. Having the purpose of staying with our experience, whether that’s the breath, or a particular emotion, or something as simple as eating, means that we are actively shaping the mind.
Left to itself the mind wanders through all kinds of thoughts — including thoughts expressing anger, craving, depression, revenge, self-pity, etc. As we indulge in these kinds of thoughts we reinforce those emotions in our hearts and cause ourselves to suffer.
By purposefully directing our awareness away from such thoughts and towards some “anchor” we decrease their effect on our lives and we create instead a space of freedom where calmness and contentment can grow.
Comments
Comment from Jamie Tillery
Time: September 4, 2007, 12:36 pm
I was looking for a good site to describe mindfulness, I’m glad I found this one.
Comment from Sally
Time: September 10, 2008, 12:56 pm
ah, now i understand why my support worker is so keen for me to fathom this technique to combat my eating disorder! thanks!
Pingback from What is mindfulness? « Advice For Life
Time: December 11, 2008, 4:44 pm
[...] Left to itself the mind wanders through all kinds of thoughts — including thoughts expressing anger, craving, depression, revenge, self-pity, etc. As we indulge in these kinds of thoughts we reinforce those emotions in our hearts and cause ourselves to suffer. By purposefully directing our awareness away from such thoughts and towards some “anchor” we decrease their effect on our lives and we create instead a space of freedom where calmness and contentment can grow. http://www.wildmind.org/applied/daily-life/what-is-mindfulness [...]
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Time: January 3, 2009, 5:14 pm
[...] think mindfulness is going to take a lot of re-training for my brain. Author Jon Kabat-Zinn says “Mindfulness [...]
Comment from ruth
Time: April 12, 2009, 2:32 pm
Hello Bodhipaksa
Greetings from London and thank you for an inspiring site!
This might sound an odd question, but I wondered whether you might have any suggestions as to how to deal with what the Germans call an ‘ear-worm’, that is a catchy tune that you can’t get out of your head – worst of all, an advertising jingle? For me, it’s much harder to shift focus away from this ‘inner tune’ than it is from words – perhaps because there’s a tune to fit most rhythmic activities, from walking to counting breaths…
Thank you again, all best, Ruth
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: April 13, 2009, 11:54 am
I find the best way to deal with a tune that’s stuck in my head is to listen very carefully to what’s going on around me. I find it’s impossible to be 100% attentive to external sounds and also to generate internal sounds. When the music reappears, this acts as a mindfulness bell, reminding me that I’m no longer paying attention to the sounds around me.
Sometimes as well, however, there’s some message encoded in the lyrics or title of the song. When this happens it’s as if I’m trying to tell myself something. So sometimes it’s worth reflecting on the content.



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