Mindfulness In Plain English, By Celestine Quincy & David Holywood
One of the most fundamental things about the mind is that it is always distracted! The mind is always on a quest for more. More money. More freedom. More happiness… Our focus is always pointed at something. Something we are thinking, feeling or doing, or very likely something we need. The very first step in Mindfulness is to recognize that the mind is wandering from one place to another. All the time. The mind is always occupied trying to entertain itself with all kinds of distractions like thoughts and dreams etc. The mind is like a flashlight and we see what is in the light for a short moment and then we point the light at a new object for a second and then a third and a fourth etc…. This is the very foundation for stress.
This is a little two-step Mindfulness Exercise that can be used to immerse and enhance the process of being Mindful.
Step one: Concentration
To assist the mind in being relaxed and more aware, it can be helpful to learn how to focus your mind at only one thing for a longer period of time. There are several ways to do this.
Monks and nuns who have been serious about their practice have used prayers and mantras for centuries. A few examples could be Om Mani Padme Hung, Om Ma Hung, Kyrie Eleison, Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, which is being recited in the mind (or verbally) over and over.
You can also simply place an object in front of you and try to focus your mind at it without thinking. Just look at it and be totally aware. And when you notice that you lost your focus… simply go back to focussing – still without thinking.
Concentrate on your breath. Feel the sensation when the air flows in and out your body. Notice what it does to your body or just focus on the fact that you are breathing.
You don’t have to use hours every day doing this. Pick something to focus your mind on and spend a couple of minutes trying to concentrate your mind on this one thing only. You will most likely notice that it is not that easy, but don’t worry. When you notice you lost focus just relax and return to the assignment.
Step Two: Let Everything Be As It Is! Without Interfering.
We receive a lot of information through our senses and we tend to forget ourselves during the processing of all this information. So let everything go. Imagine you are living in a house with a front door and a backdoor. The doors are always open. ‘People’ come in through the front door and leave out the backdoor. Don’t invite them to tea! Let thoughts, feelings and sensations come and let them go without interfering.
We tend to invite thoughts to tea and involve ourselves in inner discussions, only to manifest: What do I think. What is my opinion? And we are really only trying to maintain our inner picture of “who I am”. We reject what we do not like and identify completely with what we do like. We tend to confuse our inner pictures of who we are with who we REALLY are! Who is it that creates these inner self images?
The turning point in mindfulness is to switch awareness from the things that enter the mind to include who or what is aware of what is going on in the mind! To be FULLY aware! Meet every situation with an open mind.
Don’t judge. Don’t expect. Don’t regret. Don’t analyze. Don’t reject what is. You can’t anyway.
Mindfulness is total accept of what is no matter what it is. Not saying yes and not saying no. Let thoughts come and let them go.
The only thing you need to be who you really are is letting go of who you THINK you are! Thought and emotion tends to pull you away from the present moment. This does not mean that you should not think and feel, but instead try to be Mindful while thinking and feeling. This kind of presence tends to clarify what is going on in the mind. It makes you able to look behind thoughts and feelings to uncover subconscious needs hidden in your Shadow.
There is nothing outside this moment anyway! The past does not exist anywhere else than in your mind and the future is just an expectation, a picture in your mind. Don’t contaminate the present moment by letting your ego try to change it!
Your thoughts are racing through your mind like cars on the high way.
You easily jump your thoughts and follow them in a long stream, one following the other in all eternity.
But you wont try to jump on a car running 80 mph.
You will just let the cars pass you while you watch.
Do the same with your thoughts.
THIS is mindfulness!
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Click here for the English version of Mindfulness Introduction.
Click here for the English version of Advanced Mindfulness.
