Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Calming the busy mind and the troubled heart

“Insight involves an intuition of mind and heart that takes us beyond knowledge toward wisdom. It has to do with deeply understanding the nature of things, rather than with knowing a lot about them.”

—from the Mission Statement of The Insight Journal, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

The word mindfulness as used in the context of Mindfulness Meditation is a very distinct way of being consciously aware. The word “mindfulness” in this context is derived from the Pali word, Sati, which literally means “recollection,” and is generally co-joined with a wisdom and virtue that leads to a generosity of heart, contentment or peace, and freedom from the torment of the mind. This kind of recollection is grounded in an understanding and insight that comes out of one’s own direct experience, both present and past.

Can you think of something that is the source of stress in your life that you still get caught in again and again, each time saying, “I’ll never do THAT again. I ought to know better.” So why do you keep doing it?

Portia Nelson’s poem, “Autobiography in Five Chapters” is an apt metaphor of this process at work. After having fallen in the hole the first time, Portia certainly had a direct experience of having fallen in the hole. Still, it didn’t stop her from continuing to walk down the same street and falling in the same hole. Portrayed in her poem is the disconnect between her direct experience and her behavior.

Autobiography in 5 Chapters

by Portia Nelson

Chapter One:

I walk down the street.

There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I’m lost.

I’m helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two:

I walk down the same street.

There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I’m in this same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three:

I walk down the same street.

There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I fall in.

It’s a habit.

But my eyes are open.

It is my fault and I get out immediately.

Chapter Four:

I walk down the same street.

There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter Five:

I try walking down a different street.

Mindfulness is a word often used to express having given forethought or attention to an intended action or an action that has already been taken. It is also used to describe the act of bringing awareness to a given situation or circumstance. The leader of a country may say he or she was mindful when initiating military action against another country or sending troops into battle. A couple may say they were mindful when purchasing a house or a car. A parent may instruct a child to be mindful of their behavior when going out with friends. In other words, we are describing an act of paying attention or being consciously aware.

So it is not unusual for individuals to feel, “Why do I need to meditate to become mindful? I already am mindful. Maybe I should just be a little more mindful. Maybe I need to just pay better attention or find ways to remind myself to be more mindful.” But when you actually do began to practice Mindfulness Meditation and you really get it, there is a big awakening.

“Sonoma Mountain Road”

“In every sense of the term mindfulness—being conscientious and intentional in what we do, being open and creative with possibilities or being aware of the present moment without grasping onto judgments—being mindful is a state of awareness that enables us to be flexible and receptive and to have presence…”

“We can say that being present with others involves the experience of openness to whatever arises in reality. Presence means being open, now, to whatever is. We come to acknowledge our own proclivity and in that awareness, free ourselves to move from peak to plateau to plane with ease and will.” Except from “Presence” in, The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician’s Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration, by Daniel Siegel, MD (2010)

What about the stressful things in your own life? How many times have you walked down the same street and fallen in the same hole. How many stories have you told yourself about why you keep finding yourself in the hole?

Why not try a different street? Mindfulness Meditation is a means by which one is able to recollect direct experience and connect it with the moment-by-moment awareness of what is arising and passing away in ones daily life at any given time. You don’t have to continue going down the same street and falling in the same hole.

This is just one example of the many ways that you can change the circumstances of your life through Mindfulness Meditation. By cultivating an awareness of the innate wisdom of your own body, the feelings and perceptions of your own experience, and the thinking that keeps you from realizing the freedom, contentment and wisdom you long for, you really can change the circumstances of your life.

Mindfulness Meditation is a simple, powerful and direct means for learning to live life peacefully. There are no mysterious practices or gimmicks, no religious belief systems, just a practical and proven means of opening the heart to allow for the discovery of one’s full potential to experience joy and freedom from suffering through the development of concentration, insight, and compassion. It involves a systematic, moment-by-moment awareness of the common occurrences and what actually happens to us and in us moment by moment with ease and calm. In its magical simplicity comes a presence and a peace which are sane and grounded, clear, joyful, awake, and full of compassion and wisdom. Extensive research at leading universities and medical centers have demonstrated the efficacy of Mindfulness Meditation in the medical management of pain, stress, and anxiety related conditions, as well as a wide range of issues such as depressive relapse, PTSD, eating disorders, cancer survivorship, anger management, substance abuse, fibromyalgia, psychosis, and borderline disorders.

In a period of economic, environmental and geopolitical crisis, relationships at home and at work are strained to the breaking point for many. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs can be a place of refuge and a repository of sanity.

For additional information about planned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs and other resources, please go to the “Resources” link on this page.

For a Radio interview of Patrick on Mindfulness / Vipassana Based Cognitive Therapy, click on the Shrink Rap Radio logo on the left. <http://www.ShrinkRapRadio.com>