What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a way of being.   Being mindful can also mean being Present.  Being mindful is also being aware.  

 

Being mindful is to know ourselves at a deeper level, using our senses and awareness.  Without judgment.  It is like shining a flashlight into our inner Self.   Our mind. Our inner body. Our conditioning.  Our patterns.  

 

As a start, we can be mindful when we do something that may seem purposeless.  We'll use doing dishes as an example. We're not trying to finish the dishes so we can get on to the next task.  Usually, that's what we do.  Our mind is always on the next thing.  

 

When we are doing dishes, we can use our senses to fully be present with the experience of doing dishes.  We can feel the temperature and the texture of water.  We hear the sound of water. 

 

We see and feel the shape and quality of the plate our hands are holding.  We feel the solidity and weight of the plate. We look at the colors and patterns of the plate.   There is no judgment of good vs. bad, or like vs. dislike.  There is only experiencing.  

 

We attend to the act of dishwashing by using our senses, while our mind is in the present moment.  It is not in the future planning, nor ruminating the past. 

 

Simply, our attention is right here and right now.   

 

Similarly, when we pay attention to our thoughts or emotions, while being aware of their existence,  we are not attached to them.  We are simply aware of their happening.   There is no judgment good or bad.   These experiences are not us.  They are just there, like the clouds in the sky.  Coming and going.  Covering the sky from us.  We know the sky is always there.  

 

As we go deeper in practice, we can become more aware of our own conditioning and our history.  We are able to let go of what is not true, and to cultivate what is ultimately true and eternal, which is our True Self.  

 

The word "mindful" is so commonly used nowadays.  The word itself  can be misleading, as its goal is not to be mindful of something all the time, which can be truly exhausting. 

 

Try to be aware of the moments when you are not thinking, when your mind is completely free of thinking.  

 

The awareness can become so vast and spacious.  The ultimate beautiful state of this being is a quality of emptiness.  Our mind is free.   

 

In this state, we are in the stillness.  There is no judgment. No worrying.  No expectations.  Just being.  

 

The Stillness is always in us.  If we are quiet enough and pay attention.  This is our True Self. 

  

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