Source: Mindfulness
Mindfulness refers to a psychological quality that involves bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis nonjudgmentally.
Have you ever suddenly become aware of a background noise that had been going on for some time unnoticed? Or have you ever woken up just moments before your alarm clock went off, as if an inner force had lifted you from slumber? That was mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a mental faculty, like intuition or musical ability. It reminds you of what you didn’t know you had forgotten, and wakes you when you didn’t realize you were sleeping — or daydreaming.
Think of stone age hunters stealthily stalking their quarry while on guard for predators that might be stalking them. Their minds are quiet but alert, empty but present, sharply focused on the immediacy of the situation, knowing that anything can happen. That is also mindfulness.
Mindfulness points out what ordinarily escapes conscious attention, what’s hidden in plain view — what we’ve overlooked or forgotten because it doesn’t fit our interpretations, or pertain to our goals, or because it makes us feel uncomfortable.
Mindfulness does its work before intellect and emotion have had a chance to bring their judgments, interpretations, names, categorizations, or biases to bear on perception. It feels light and nimble, and comes in a flash — out of the corner of the eye — as if with a sideways glance, without grasping or looking directly.
Why bother cultivating mindfulness? Among its many welcome side effects are deep serenity and a patient, tolerant understanding of others, but it is worthwhile in itself for reasons that must be experienced to be appreciated. In a word, it awakens us.
Without mindfulness, we function as if on autopilot, only partially aware of who we really are or what we’re doing.
