What is Mindfulness?

There are many moments in my life where I tell people about Mindfulness and meditation and they say: ‘’ ah that is so good of you because I am incredibly bad at it and I could never stop thinking. ‘’  

To which I obviously answer, ‘’yeah I’m a magical being that has control over all of her thoughts and emotions all the time and I can switch it on and off like it’s nothing.’’

I wish!

What is Mindfulness?

Many around me have this idea that when I speak of being mindful that that is the equivalent of a mind clean of any thought, perception or past experience and I am only positive and truly in a happy state. However, that is not the case at all. 

Mindfulness has nothing to do with controlling or even stopping our  emotions, or thoughts. It is about paying attention in a kind and non-judgmental manner to whatever it is that is happening in the present moment. 

This means we allow our thoughts, which are often accompanied by our opinion, judgement or even clouded by our emotions, to simply exist as we observe them with awareness and compassion. It is about changing the relationship we have with our thoughts. 

Why is it so damn hard? 

We humans are designed in a way that we interpret our world through this lens of our past experiences. We draw on these experiences in our current experience and we create projections on the past based on these past experiences.  Our judgements, opinions and experiences adjust throughout life.  The mind is in control of this lens and that is a very important aspect of our lives. Without this mind we would not be able to learn and develop our skills and ourselves. 

However, as we develop our mind become more and more automated. You don’t have to think about simple activities such as tying your shoelaces or driving home. We make these decisions or get ideas for the future based on these past experiences. We become conditioned!

Our thoughts are accumulations of what we have learned and experienced and they can change over time. These thoughts can make us feel good or bad. However, we rarely take a moment and simply observe what is happening in our mind, body or around us.  We spend much of our time living in this projection of our mind consisting of memories or judgements. How often have you experienced for example walking or driving home and once you reach you suddenly have no idea how you got there because you were so lost in your thoughts. 

Instead of our mind being a useful addition to our being we are so ingrained with our thoughts that we are often controlled by this journey of the mind. We become unable to pay attention to what is actually happening in the present moment.

This mechanism works both in the positive and negative direction because when we feel negative emotions, we tend worry, ruminate, and become frustrated about past or projected future events. In contrast, when we are happy, we tend to look forward to having it again or we might feel scared of losing it. This mechanism of our mind always wandering of into the past or future is taking away our present moment. 

Okay but how does Mindfulness help? 

 Meditation is a form of practicing mindfulness and strengthens our ability to perceive and react to things with more openness, awareness, and clarity. This in turn improves our ability in dealing with stress, regulating our emotions, and showing resilience in adverse conditions.  However, you do not become good in a sport just by doing it once. It is the same thing with meditation, the more we practice the more automatic it becomes. 

For some it, me included in the beginning of my mindfulness journey, it can be hard to sit for just five minutes and focus on my breath. Because our minds are so used to removing itself from the present moment. 

Imagine that is was easy, natural and joyful to live in the present moment, be compassionate with any feeling or thought that arises and have the understanding that being in the present moment can be a fulfilling and beautiful experience regardless of the conditions being good or bad. 

How do I do this?

I thought you would never ask! With Maujha I am offering 8 weeks of different Mindfulness techniques in which I will teach you different practices that you can do throughout the day to practice becoming more present. Clients often experience more mindful moments already in the first two weeks of the course. I always say, you have nothing to lose but so much to gain so just give it a try!