What Even Is Mindfulness???
Mindfulness can be understood as 3 things:
Ability → Process → Result
Mindfulness as an ‘Ability’
Mindfulness is our ability to direct attention.
Imagine you are holding a flashlight. Your attention is the ability to control what is being ‘lit up’ by that flashlight. You still have awareness of everything around that’s also not being lit up.
So mindfulness is our ability to direct our attention towards one thing. It could be:
- Sensation of the breath
- Sound around you
- Something visual e.g. a plant
Mindfulness as a Process
“Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn (Kabat-Zinn, 2013)
Mindfulness is the process of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment, so what is happening right now, non-judgementally.
Breaking it down:
On purpose
It is an intentional conscious choice over and over again refreshed every time the mind is distracted.
This might feel effortful, initially, but eventually it becomes our second nature or our default state.
Present moment
The mind normally sits in:
past (rumination)
future (worry)
Mindfulness trains attention to stay in the current experience.
Non-judgementally
We tend to judge thoughts and experiences as they come into our minds.
good/bad
pleasant/unpleasant
important/irrelevant
Mindfulness involves being aware of this automatic ‘colouring’, as well as not adding on top of it with more conceptual judgements and elaborations upon our experience.
And eventually, we get the result….
Mindfulness as the Result
When ability + process are trained: mindful awareness = result.
clear awareness
non-judgmental observation
less mental noise
positive affect
More info and insights to come!
Hope you enjoyed reading!
Sophia
References
Kabat-Zinn, J. (with Hanh, T. N.). (2013). Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Random House Publishing Group.
