On Being Mindful

By: Hannah Ariesen

Mindfulness. I know you’ve heard it before, it’s all over the internet and is currently “trending.” But what exactly is it? Can it help you see more value and meaning in your own life? And how can you make it a part of your lifestyle? It may seem like something difficult to incorporate into your very busy life, but it is probably one of the easiest practices you can begin to adopt into your every-day routine.

According to the Buddhist scholar and monk Nyanaponika Thera, mindfulness is “the unfailing master key for knowing the mind and is thus the starting point; the perfect tool for shaping the mind, and is thus the focal point; and the lofty manifestation of the achieved freedom of the mind, and is thus the culminating point.” But what it really gets down to, according to academic journal author Jon Kabat-Zinn, is “something that basically boils down to paying attention” (2).

Paying attention. But to what? Of all the meditative practices that have developed in the world, mindfulness is “perhaps the most basic, the most powerful, the most universal, among the easiest to grasp and engage in” (2). And that’s because of the nature of it. Mindfulness is about being present, recognizing moments as the happen, and being aware of yourself and your surroundings. “Being mindful” can in fact take many forms, “For mindfulness is none other than the capacity we all already have to know what is actually happening as it is happening” (2). You can be mindful of other people’s presence, mindful of what you eat and how you treat your body, or just mindful that you are here, right now, living on this earth. Recognizing these moments, actions, and thoughts as they happen is incredibly grounding. And for the disgruntled soul: severely needed.

We exist in world where the mind is constantly being pulled in all sorts of directions, leaving us scatter brained and burdened by emotions that have nowhere else to go. It leaves us feeling all sorts of terrible things. Meditation is a common practice that can be used to ease the mind and ground the self, bringing clarity to your life view. But not everyone has 30 minutes to meditate in the morning before they go to work or school. The following website contains 22 ways to incorporate mindful techniques into your routine in which you can choose based off your current lifestyle:

https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/mindfulness-exercises-techniques-activities/

My favorite, and one that takes less than five minutes when I wake up in the morning, is the five-senses technique. What are five things you can see? Five things you can hear? Smell? Touch? Taste? I always found five to be too many, so realistically I would just list one or two things. But the experience is very grounding, and what I mean by that is: it brings me back down to earth. I no longer fear what is to come or what haunts my past. I just am, even if only for a few minutes. By incorporating even just small techniques, one can feel more present and intentional about their life, dissolving any worries and perhaps stifling a constant fear of: what will happen when I die? Does my life have any meaning? What is my purpose? Incorporating these small techniques can lead to mindful habits without really having to think about it. “Effortless Mindfulness” is what they call it.

The main lesson here is best put this way: “Fears and insecurities about the past and the future can make it difficult to fully enjoy the present. The key is learning how to pay attention and focus on the here and now” (3). Awareness: I can’t say it enough. Presence: another one I can’t say enough. Imagine how many fears and anxieties can be subdued or stifled. It can range from being mindful of what you eat to being mindful that even in the face of death and impermanence: we are here now. Mindfulness is a choice that can develop into something that comes second-nature to you. Why not make the choice now?

References

“22 Mindfulness Exercises, Techniques & Activities For Adults ( PDF's).” 22 Mindfulness Exercises, Techniques & Activities For Adults (PDF's), 26 Apr. 2019, positivepsychologyprogram.com/mindfulness-exercises-techniques-activities/.
Kabat-Zinn, Jon. “Mindfulness.” Mindfulness, vol. 6, no. 6, 2015, pp. 1481–1483., doi:10.1007/s12671-015-0456-x.
“Mindfulness.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mindfulness.