By Peter Binnings
One of the main objectives in my practice as well as in my own life is in cultivating a broader and deeper sense of awareness. When one is aware, it then becomes possible to see your automatic responses, gives you time to truly choose your own path and allows you a sense of calm that is otherwise elusive. Mindfulness is a proven way of developing this better sense of awareness.
However, like all good things just practicing it here and there or once a week will not produce any major results, it takes time and effort in order for such a practice to produce the desired effect. In a way it is very similar to strength training or learning how to play a musical instrument, you don't get the defined leg muscles by going to the gym once in awhile and you won't be able to play even a simple tune sitting at the piano for just one sitting. Yet, often times, people expect such results from one mindfulness activity.
Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.
Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.
Mindfulness. It’s a pretty straightforward word. It suggests that the mind is fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. That might seem trivial, except for the annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand. Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we’re engrossed in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or fretting about the future. And that makes us anxious.
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