Welcome back and for those of you joining me for the first time, so glad to have you here. Recently I was working with a coaching client and at the beginning of our session she said something that was profound in its simplicity and yet completely sums up the work of cultivating mindfulness. She said “I wish I had understood all of this a long time ago. I could have been so much happier.”
Let’s unpack that for a moment. An understanding of mindfulness and the power we have with it to shift our perspective is something that takes both time and receptivity. We can be proverbially “banged over the head” with a message multiple times but until we are open enough to receive it, it will not register. Each of us can probably point to a circumstance like this. I have several. Ironically, yoga was one of them for me.
The first yoga class I ever attended was with my mom during a mother/daughter weekend away. Looking back now I am sure the teacher was a fine instructor. We held poses for what felt like forever as she spoke softly and led us through a slow series. When I walked out of the class I turned to my mom and said “I hate yoga”. It wasn’t until a few years later when I was living in San Francisco (where basically everyone did yoga) that I decided to give it another shot. This time I walked out of the first class thinking “I didn’t hate it”... Isn’t that how all great love affairs begin?
From there I found myself in a pretty regular practice and after about a year had my first musings of someday becoming a teacher. I didn’t realize it at the time but that was the beginning of my mindfulness journey. It only seems appropriate at this, the start of our journey together, that I should start at the beginning by answering this question; What is Mindfulness? Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of modern mindfulness, has defined mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.
Essentially mindfulness is what we learn by being present enough in the moment to open ourselves to non-judgmental inquiry. This is quite difficult, especially in the world we currently reside where there is a premium on multitasking. Multitasking is the arch rival of mindfulness and as a result I am not a fan of the concept. You will hear more from me the negative effects of multitasking in a later post. Single tasking is what allows us to be mindful; to focus on one thing at a time. That is where the meditation part of the description comes in.
Mindfulness and meditation are used quite interchangeably and therefore the second question I often receive is What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation? I describe it this way. Just as we workout our bodies so that our bodies are healthier and work better for us the rest of the time, meditation is our “workout” for our mind… so that our thoughts, feelings and actions are healthier most of the time. Meditation is the “workout” and mindfulness is the reward; a mind that is more present and suffers less the rest of the time.
With practice, mindfulness can become the way our brain functions without us being expressly aware of it, just as we are not keenly focused on how our body is feeling moment to moment when we are not in pain. Mindfulness is the way our minds have the ability to function most of the time; with attention and intention. When we pay attention, we can act from intention (conscious choice) rather than emotionally react. Trust me, I will cover why this is important in great detail over our time together because this is the crux of KLARITY Mindsette.
We know working out the mind is important. The question becomes how? The good news is there are countless ways to meditate. I will share many of them with you here but the amazing thing is that any task we complete from start to finish can be a meditation.
I have a practice for you. Pick a chore in your house; washing the dishes, folding laundry, cutting the grass, cooking a meal, and try to stay present in the task from start to finish. Notice if you get distracted; and gently guide yourself back to the task. Just make sure you do not attach judgment to the thought once you notice the distraction. That takes us out of the meditation and it is one of the key parts of a mindfulness practice; non-judgmental inquiry. Guide yourself back as many times as you need to until the task is complete. When you finish, congratulate yourself! You just practiced single-tasking or in other words, meditation.
I want this to be a dialogue here so feel free to ask questions in the comments below or message me privately. I will promise to answer them in my next post. From deep inquiry comes self discovery. I welcome the opportunity for us all to cultivate that together here.
Until next time.
Allison