In their wonderful book ‘Mindful Compassion’ Paul Giblet and Choden define mindfulness as “the deliberate intention to observe the activity of the mind in a non-judgmental way – to step back and notice whatever arises in the mind without reacting to it”.
Thich Nhat Hanh often describes mindfulness as a type of energy that can bring our awareness back into our bodies helping us to be in the here and now. Mindfulness enables us to be in the present moment, to being in touch with our feelings and emotions, giving us a clearer understanding of our perspective of the world and to truly experience life’s wonder.
Everyone has the capacity to be mindful simply by developing our ability to pay attention in the present moment.
We waste a large amount of energy by reacting automatically to the events of outside world and other people without being aware of the process and how it affects us. This is known as being on autopilot. By practicing mindfulness, we can learn to choose how to react therefore have greater control of outcomes and be less likely to act in haste or out of anger and frustration
It is human nature to want to be happy and suffer less, and it is only when we learn how and why the mind can cause so much suffering, that we can make wiser choices that lead to happier lives. We spend so much time tending to the care of bodies, our cars and houses, but most of us of do not often take stock of our level of happiness and take the necessary steps towards cultivating happiness
Everyone can recall countless days in which they were lost in fears about the past and anxieties about the future. We would all prefer not to spend whole days being traumatised by emotions such as anxiety fear and jealousy. By practicing mindfulness we can learn to control and limit negative thoughts and how they affect our mood and energy.
Once we start a journey of self-analysis, it seems common sense to view emotions such as greed, fear, anger, jealousy and cruelty as negative aspects of self. However, one should not judge oneself solely on our perception of out shortcomings, but our motivation to overcome them and the desires to be better for ourselves and others. When working within spiritual areas such as healing or mediumship one does not need to be perfect. And it is normal to have negative thoughts and emotions sometimes. In fact it’s by being human and having shortcomings that allows us to understand others and develop empathy, understanding and compassion. How can you help someone else understand their own anger if you have never experienced your own? You can’t.
So called negative emotions are warning signs that we are out of balance. Therefore, with the right motivation and effort we learn to view those aspects of self we are unhappy with as the keys for transformation shares the view that humanity often underestimates its potential to transform their lives. Each one of us has the potential to find their inner peace because we all have a mind that can be cultivated and guided into naturally generating a higher sense of well being.
Before we can start to become mindful we need to settle the mind. Mediation is a helpful way to do this
From years of mediation practice and journaling, I have noted that my mind is constantly fluttering from thought to thought, bouncing from past to future events and running away from the present moment. In his book Diamond Mind: A Psychology of Meditation, Rob Nairn refers rather eloquently to the business of the mind butterfly mind. This is more commonly known as monkey mind. Imagine a naughty monkey refusing to sit still and jumping all over the place. We keep our minds unsettled by constantly emotionally reacting to our thoughts. Emotions are reactions to our thoughts, therefore if we are more in control of our thought we can chose to develop more positive emotions which manifest positive energy and well being.
As the mind finds it extremely difficult to rest in the present moment and is constantly diving into different avenues of thought. It is logical to give the mind something to do. Simply sitting and listening to the sound of the breath sweeps the mind of all thoughts and allows it to rest and restore balance.
