From Mindless to Mindful Living
The benefits of mindfulness– for both mental and physical wellness– have been demonstrated in scientific studies and people’s everyday experiences.
But, what is mindfulness?
If a person wants to lead a more mindful life, how does that person go about it?
When I think of mindfulness, I also think of its presumed opposite…mindlessness.
Then, unfortunately, a whole barrage of judgmental and critical declarations come to my mind.
“Watching television shows is mindless.”
“Playing Farmville or Facebook games is mindless.”
“Scarfing down potato chips and reading Star magazine is mindless.”
“Chatting for hours with a group of friends about inconsequential topics is mindless.”
This list could go on and on AND none of these declarations are necessarily true.
To me, mindlessness is not a finite list of activities that are deemed less than, pointless or even detrimental to a person’s personal, spiritual or other type of growth.
If you really think about it, you could be in the presence of the wisest being on the planet and– if you’re not tapped in to that wisdom and energy– the whole experience can be a mindless one.
To really boil it down, Buddhists (who coined the term), define “mindfulness” as a calm awareness. Ostensibly, a person could engage in absolutely ANY activity– or no activity at all– and do it with a sense of mindfulness.
Why should any of us make the effort to calm down, center ourselves and be more aware of everything we are doing?
Here are a few reasons why…
*Mindful living is more relaxed and ease-ful living.
*Painful things like depression, addiction, physical illnesses and more can significantly improve when a person regularly practices mindfulness.
*Your health, career, self-esteem and relationships will undoubtedly feel more empowered, happy and worthwhile when you are living mindfully.
Whatever you are and whatever you do, make it a choice.
I see one of the big benefits of living a more mindful life is that it is more readily apparent that we all have a lot of choice.
Too many of us, myself included, move from habitual activity to habitual activity over the course of a day, month, year and so on. We also react habitually to these usual things that we do.
It can all become so very dull, boring and mindless.
Mindlessness is when we’ve become so accustomed to being and doing pretty much the same things over and over again, we flip into auto-pilot and mostly react to whatever is thrown our way.
Sometimes it is “good” and other times it is not so good.
In this reactive mode, we forget that we are the ones who are choosing the lives that we are creating for ourselves.
Yes, there are quite a few things that are beyond our control. But, even in those out of control situations, we still have choice.
Whenever you shift into mindfulness, you can remember and act from choice.
Try this experiment for a few days:
When you are in an irritating, annoying or worrisome situation, invite yourself to pause before you react. (I know, this can be far more challenging than it sounds!) Breathe deeply and slowly for a few breaths and then ask yourself this question…
“Where do I have choice?”
You might have the choice of lashing out– or not– in anger at your son who just locked your keys in your car, for example. You also have the choice to re-focus your energy and look for solutions to unlocking the car.
As powerless as you might feel, in just about any circumstance, you always have choice. To remember that you have choice and to shift your energy as you enact that choice is a way to be mindful.
“Milk” every moment for what nourishes you.
There are (hopefully) plenty of moments in your day-to-day life that do not feel out of control, irritating or upsetting. It is in these moments when many of us fall into that auto-pilot mode of mindlessness.
We reach for a box of cookies, the television remote, the computer, even the phone to call someone without really any thought– or sense of deliberate choice– at all.
The consequences of mindless living is not only that we can find ourselves reacting and feeling powerless to whatever comes our way, we also miss out on a lot!
In auto-pilot mode, we miss out on truly feeling the warm and tender embrace of a loved one. We fail to appreciate the witty dialogue in a movie or sitcom and we don’t taste the remarkable flavors in an ice cream sundae.
Mindlessness is a numbed way of living. There are so many tastes, scents, sounds, sights, touches and feelings that are just waiting to be experienced from a mindful place.
Spiritual teacher Abraham advises us to “milk” every moment. This means that any of us can take any moment in time and intentionally hone in on particular aspects of it.
You might pause in the presence of a red-orange sunset and really get into the colors you see. Notice the way that the colors intensify and then fade against the backdrop of clouds.
There is no doubt in my mind that your appreciation for just about anyone and anything– including yourself– will be enhanced when you “milk” a moment and experience it with mindfulness.
From there, you can open up to a new world and a new way of living.
Comment from opthamologists
Time November 17, 2010 at 3:52 am
Couldnt agree more with that, very attractive article