Psychologists talk about mindfulness a lot... it's been proven to be a highly effective practice in reducing stress, managing anxiety, dealing with chronic pain and a host of other things. For those of you who have never heard the term much less have the foggiest what it means, I'll explain: simply put, mindfulness is about focusing your attention in the present moment. You may argue that your attention is focused right now on the words you're reading. That's awesome, but to really be mindful, the challenge is to try and become aware of not just the words you're seeing on the screen, but of the thoughts generated in your mind, the sensations going on in your body, the sounds around you, the emotions you feel... Basically every rich piece of information that is available to you from outside of you in your environment, and within your own mind and body.
Real awareness can be a lot harder to accomplish than it might seem. Living in today's fast paced world, with distractions aplenty, our brains have become used to constantly switching attention from one thing to another. We eat dinner in front of the TV. We type emails, tweet, make dinner and supervise homework all while on the phone. We play Angry Birds while patting our toddlers to sleep (yes, guilty).
Some people would argue that this is productive, efficient even. Indeed, many individuals wear their ability to multi-task as a badge of honour (yes ladies, I'm speaking directly to you!) In fact, neuroscientists have demonstrated that when we try to do several tasks at once, we're really just switching our attention back and forth from one thing to another (usually compromising productivity and performance along the way).
But mindfulness brings us much more than better performance. It helps us to tune in. To be present. To really notice life (see it, taste it, smell it, feel it) rather than pass it by with the speed of a bullet-train. With that experiencing comes the awareness that every thought, feeling, sensation, and circumstance in life changes as frequently as the weather, without us needing to do anything about it other than be with it and accept it.
That's right, I said not needing to do anything. The practice of mindfulness is exquisitely simple. All you have to do is be aware of all that's going on, from moment to moment, and just be with it. Not trying to get anywhere, or achieve anything.
'But what's the point in that?' my clients often ask.
The point is that we spend massive amounts of energy worrying about things that happened last week, planning days and weeks that haven't arrived yet, and balancing twenty or so tasks in our heads even though we can physically only do one thing at a time.
The point is also that many of us are not very comfortable with sitting with stuff we don't like (myself included). If faced with a problem or uncomfortable feeling, thought or situation, rather than just sit with that discomfort we rush to fix it, avoid it, change it, get distracted, procrastinate, analyse, exercise, eat, drink, shop, email, tweet, etc. Very often the activity we bury ourselves in does nothing to really change the problem we first had. If we had done nothing, and let ourselves tolerate the discomfort and accept it, we often find something changes anyway. Our feelings subside, our discomfort decreases, or the problem ceases to be such an issue. Typically, just accepting that something is bothering us results in the angst drifting away.
So, although I've hopefully convinced you of the proven benefits of mindfulness, in truth, mindfulness is not really about getting anything. It's about letting go of things. And in the letting go, there is acceptance, joy, and real freedom.
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