What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is paying attention to what we are experiencing without judging it. When we are mindful we notice things which we might normally have missed. For instance, what sounds can you hear right now? Maybe there's a clock ticking somewhere. Normally we wouldn't notice a clock ticking in the fast paced busyness of our lives, however when we are being mindful we are slowing down and taking notice of what's going on around us. This is what mindfulness is.

One of the common mindfulness exercises for beginning to live mindfully is to practice eating a raisin. Go ahead take a raisin and eat it as you normally would. Then take another raisin, but before putting it in your mouth notice it's texture, Roll it around in your fingers. What does it feel like? Notice the color and smell it. Is it heavy? Smooth or rough? Then take the raisin, put it in your mouth and roll it around in your mouth. Notice how it feels as you move it around. Savor the taste before you bite into it. Once you've thoroughly explored the raisin in your mouth, take a bite. What a taste sensation! Now didn't the second raisin taste way better than the first?

Mindfulness is finding a new awareness in your life. Practice this mindfulness exercise the next time you are washing the car: be aware of the sound of the water, the temperature of the water, and the shininess of the car. Do this and you'll find new delight in washing your car.

The next time you are out walking notice your surroundings, the sound your feet make as you walk, your breath, the wind on your face, the smell of the air. When you bring this awareness into your life it helps to calm that busy brain we have that is always thinking, planning, and worrying. Can you see how mindfulness can help you reduce your stress?

The core belief in mindfulness is that we can't change our past, no matter how much we go over the events in our minds. We can't predict the future because we really don't know what is going to happen, so why do we spend so much time worrying about it? The only thing we can do is live in the moment. It's what's happening now that we need to focus on, not the past, and not the future.

One way people practice mindfulness is to focus on your breath going in and out. Why? Our brains are just so wrapped up in the worrying, planning, striving, judging that it does. it's hard for us to stop thinking and analyzing everything. By focusing on a breathing exercise our brain stops with it's busyness and notices the breath entering and leaving our bodies. We're giving our brain something else to keep it busy. Now instead of planning and thinking our brain is focused on noticing our breathing

Try this mindfulness exercise: Feel your breath flowing in and out. Try breathing in while you count to 4, then breath out and while you count to 4 again. Keep repeating this. Each time your mind wanders just gently bring yourself back to your breathing. Is it hard to stay focused on breathing? You bet it is! Your mind will wander time and time again, but that what mindfulness practice is all about, learning to re-focus your attention. Spend 15 minutes doing this and then note whether your stress level has decreased. I'm betting you'll find that it has.

Though we can define mindfulness as being aware, that isn't all it's about. Mindfulness means paying attention deliberately. It means taking the ordinary moments in our lives and deliberately noticing all the details on purpose. So rather than just noticing or perhaps not even seeing an apple sitting on the counter, mindfulness requires that we notice everything about the apple. Is it red or green? Dull or shinny? Is there a smell to it? Is it sitting straight or crooked? Does it have a stem? Is it smooth or bumpy?

Mindfulness has seven foundations of attitude. Each of these foundations are skills that need to be practised regularly. Some people set aside a specific time of the day to be mindful, others practice mindfulness throughout the day using mindfulness for those activities we do without thinking: driving, washing dishes, eating, walking, listening to music. There are many opportunities to practice mindfulness.

1. Non-judging
We become aware of our judgement streams and step back from it. Notice how often you judge everything. What feelings does judging bring up in us? How often do you judge yourself? Judging traps us in behaviors that lead to unhappiness and suffering as we want things to be a certain way. Step back from judgement and just simply observe and witness the experience without clinging to it, or pushing it away. Try this: For 10 minutes notice how much you are preoccupied with judging, liking and disliking things. You'll be surprised at how much you do it.

2. Patience
Patience is the wisdom of knowing we are on the right path. It's understanding that life will unfold the way it was meant to. We can't always control or will things to happen. Patience is accepting this is way things were meant to be and life will take us in the direction we were meant to go.

3. A beginners mind
Sometimes our past assumptions can prevent us from experiencing the richness of life. We think we can predict what will happen so we don't open our minds to any new possibilities. Think of experiencing life through the eyes of a baby. When you adopt a beginners mind, every event in life becomes a source of wonder and amazement. Through a beginner's mind you can become open to new possibilities.

4. Trust
When we can access our own wisdom we learn to trust ourselves. Listen to those self-doubting thoughts and look into where they are coming from, instead of just believing them. When we do this we give ourselves the gift of trusting our intuition and feelings that guide us in our decision making. We come to believe in ourselves and find our authentic selves.

5. Non-striving
When we are goal driven there is a price we pay for it. Usually the more we try to accomplish, the more stressed we feel. Striving to reach our goals focuses us on being future-oriented and trying to "get somewhere" instead of accepting what is going on in the here and now. Spend a day paying attention to the desire in you to get somewhere and see how it makes you feel. Then practice having no specific goal and see how much less pressure you feel.

6. Acceptance
Acceptance means that you accept things as they are in this moment, regardless of what is going on in your life. Think about this - is there something going on in your life right now that you are having trouble accepting? Does this resistance help? Do you feel stuck and hopeless? The attitude of acceptance allows us freedom from judgement and envelops us with compassion for ourselves. It doesn't mean that we have to approve and resign ourselves to it. It means we are simply allowing ourselves to accept what is happening to us, rather than fighting with it.

7. Letting Go
When we realize our thoughts, and feelings come and go, time and time again, we can become better at intentionally letting them go - both the good and the bad. It can be liberating to free ourselves from our own suffering and move into the beauty and peacefulness of the world.

Try this for one week: Pick one foundation each day and concentrate only on that one. See what happens when you consciously start thinking about it. You'll be surprised at what a difference it makes when we are aware of them.

Reflecting on each of these foundations of attitude guides us to see how they interact with each other. Allowing them to guide you forward to make each moment in your life count. It's training and nourishing our brains with new energy for healing and growth.

Mindfulness has been proven to reduce stress. It has also been shown to be effective in alleviating other mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered the program Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) in which the practices of mindfulness, meditation and yoga are brought together. This program has been highly effective in hospitals when taught to patients with chronic pain and illnesses. Patients have been able to reduce their reliance on pain medications and have found their outlook on life has greatly improved. Kabat-Zinn's success with this program has brought about many research studies which show that mindfulness is very effective at reducing stress.

I was lucky to have taken a MSBR course myself. I battle both depression and post traumatic stress. Through practicing mindfulness I was able to come off the anti-depressants I was taking. Though it wasn't a cure-all for my post traumatic stress I've found the techniques I learned about mindfulness very helpful for managing my PTSD.

Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist practices. Buddhists believe in the importance of meditation to calm the mind. Our internal thoughts create our own suffering and it is up to each individual to find the release in order to keep our bodies in a healthy state. While meditating all our attention is focused on the flow of the breath in and out. Focusing our attention (mindfulness) permits us to experience our thoughts and emotions without reacting or judging. This is type of meditation lets the mind settle into a quiet state where we find balance and acceptance. With mindfulness we are able to direct our attention to fully experience the moment and it doesn't require that we sit with our legs crossed and eyes closed. The beauty of mindfulness is that it is practiced anywhere, anytime.

This is a psychological test that was developed by Ruth Baer (University of Kentucky) and is in the public domain. It has been used in many recent mindfulness research studies. Take the test to see how mindful you are.

Instructions: Below is a collection of statements about your everyday experience. Using the 1-6 scale below, please indicate how frequently or infrequently you currently have each experience. Please answer according to what really reflects your experience rather than what you think your experience should be. Please treat each item separately from every other item.

                    1 = almost always; 2 = very frequently; 3 = somewhat frequently;
                  4 = somewhat infrequently; 5 = very infrequently; 6 = almost never.

1. I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.


2. I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else.


3. I find it difficult to stay focused on what's happening in the present.


4. I tend to walk quickly to get where I'm going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.


5. I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.


6. I forget a person's name almost as soon as I've been told it for the first time.


7. It seems I am "running on automatic" without much awareness of what I'm doing.


8. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them.


9. I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I am doing right now to get there.


10. I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I'm doing.


11. I find myself listening to someone with one ear, doing something else at the same time.


12. I drive places on "automatic pilot" and then wonder why I went there.


13. I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past.


14. I find myself doing things without paying attention.


15. I snack without being aware that I'm eating.

Scoring: Note your answers and add them up, then divide your total by 15. This will give you your average score for the fifteen statements. The higher the score, the higher your mindfulness. Typically the average score is around 3.86. The highest score is 6 and the lowest score is 1.

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