What Does It Mean To Be Mindful? - A 5 Minutes Guide

You might find yourself wondering what, exactly, it means to be mindful.

Are you supposed to clear your head, or focus on one thought? Can you be practice throughout the day, or do you need to sit in formal meditation? Is it all in your head? Listen to this talk and learn more about taking care of the moments through mindfulness.

Transcript

Many of us come to mindfulness and meditation practice to help us work with a mind that may be prone to distraction,

To worry,

To rumination and overthinking.

Chances are we might often find ourselves lost in thoughts or experiences or situations.

I've often noticed that for example we might be at home with our families but then our minds are off thinking about work or some other concerns.

And then we're at work in a business meeting and then our minds run off to our families,

To the next holiday,

To the next weekend.

That is what the mind often does.

And the reality is that we do have so many responsibilities,

Distractions,

Things that are required of us.

And even in this moment it's possible that the phone might ring,

Calendar notification pops up,

We have somewhere to go,

Something to do,

Someone to care for.

It's a lot.

So mindfulness reminds us to come back to this present moment right here.

Even now,

When you're breathing,

Knowing that you're breathing.

When you're walking,

Knowing that you're walking.

And even when you're thinking,

Knowing that you are thinking.

The radical simplicity that comes from being able to do just one thing at one time but it really gets us closer to cutting through all the noise and stress of our modern times.

So try it out,

Maybe even right now as you're listening to me.

Just this one breath,

Simply going,

Breathing in,

Knowing I'm breathing in and breathing out,

Knowing that I'm breathing out.

In this moment in time,

Regaining presence and agency,

Resisting the temptation to fly off to somewhere else,

To think about some other time in the past or in the future.

But instead in this one moment,

Finding the calm and stability that is possible right here.

And then as we build that foundation of steady awareness,

We can return to our lives with a greater capacity to act effectively and also to care for ourselves and for others.

I hope this has been helpful.

May we continue to take care of the moments so that the moments will take care of our lives.

Reviews

Thank you for sharing this simple explanation of mindfulness. 🙏

Very much enjoyed