What is Mindfulness?

♪ ♪ ...and it is paying attention in a particular way, because we are paying attention in a friendly way, without judging. and stop being on autopilot. So, most of the time, we are stuck in the past or the future with our thoughts, and we really miss

what

is happening right now. GREG SERPA: A lot of people think, "Well, I'm paying attention all the time. I'm here in my life." Many of us are not well here. Where we are? Good? Are we planning mine, thinking, and the next one, and the next one?" Or maybe we're rehashing the past, thinking about

what

happened before and, "I should have said this instead of that." So in between rehearsing and Al repeat, we forget that this moment is when we are alive.

Mindfulness is a pause button and being there stops worry and anxiety. In fact, it may seem quite paradoxical what we are doing, or what we ask people to do. do, and we have a saying that the quickest way, in this practice, to get from "A" to "B" is to actually be completely on "A." To focus on a moment, to take a moment to relax. Mindfulness is not something that is foreign to us, so we all know how to do it, so we all know how to be present. It's just something that we are not trained to be in this place more often, so the training really.

It helps us not only to be attentive for a moment, but to stay in that moment or when the mind wanders, which is what happens. It will do, of course, just bring it back. And so the process of really learning

mindfulness

is bringing the mind back, but gently, and without judging yourself because the mind wanders. This is just... a normal thing that will happen. So in meditation, we have an informal practice. It is when we take time in the present moment. And we can do it sitting, focusing on our breathing; We can do that by walking, feeling our feet;

We can do it lying down, feeling our whole body; but we won't do anything else during that time. And then, in informal practice, we pay attention to what we are already doing. For example, we are having a cup of coffee, petting the dog, or driving our car. So that would be an informal practice. So we use all of our senses to do that activity in that moment and notice what's really here versus what I think is here. So sometimes it's helpful to think about what

mindfulness

is not. It is a secular practice from all walks of life. an experience enhancer either.

It is simply the ability to be experienced, just as we are with goodness. And through our mindfulness practice, we learn some essential things. Discrepancy Analyzer: The way life should really be is that, in our minds, our life sucks. And we do it constantly, constantly, constantly, in every moment. And when we can allow ourselves to simply be present with whatever is here in this moment, we notice that this moment might actually not be so bad. Some people who come to this practice have the feeling that "Oh, I should feel relaxed" or "I should get a particular result from this," and that effort itself is a barrier to doing the practice.

We are falling a little in receptivity. This is very curious because we don't actually know what makes us conscious. So, I mean, if something happened, like there was a loud sound or something, then of course you're attentive, but sometimes you're just walking down the street and suddenly you notice your feet or you notice the sun or the trees or whatever. to be. We don't know why we have that, but what we do know is how we can make more of those moments, which is by practicing mindfulness. So that's another very good reason to have a regular mindfulness practice, let's say even ten minutes each day, and people really feel a difference throughout the day, because it's easier for them to remember to be mindful.

Training veterans to attend to the present moment with kindness is a fantastic intervention in a series of diagnostic presentations not only for mental health patients, but also for patients with a lot of physical suffering, chronic ailments, and chronic pain. Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org