I have been sharing an Insight into Mindfulness with a business in London & their colleagues on the other side of the pond.
It has got me reflecting on the attitudes of Mindfulness & I thought I would share my thoughts on these with you today…
The attitudes of mindfulness are the ways in which we approach mindfulness to embody the essence of the practice. They are very much practices in & of themselves & are very much interlinked. Often when we start to really embody the essence of non-judgment for example, we’ll find the spirit of acceptance & forgiveness is easier to cultivate.
So let’s investigate these attitudes in a little more detail:
Non-judgment – we are essentially quite a judge-y, it is almost like we are programmed to judge. The first step in not judging is not to judge the judging – simply just notice it. Overtime you’ll notice the judgment subsiding. It’s about not being quite so critical of ourselves or others.
Kindful acceptance, forgiveness & compassion – if we are kinder, more accepting, forgiving & compassionate to ourselves we are generally kinder, more accepting, forgiving & compassionate to others.
Acceptance, forgiveness, kindness & compassion are all choices we make. They are not a giving up or giving in energy but simply a choice to let go, surrender & release the stories we are telling ourselves.
They are also attitudes which help us to cultivate a sense of patience & trust in ourselves, others & in the process itself.
Playful curiosity – is sometimes a tough one for us adults, we sometimes take ourselves & life a little too seriously. Again this about a choice: choosing joy, fun & happiness & noticing how this really shifts our energy. And again it’s about not criticising our thoughts, feelings or emotions but bringing an essence of playful curiosity to whatever we are experiencing: oooh that’s interesting or I wonder what that’s all about.
Playful curiosity is closely linked to the idea of a beginner’s mind, bringing a sense of childlike wonder, the sense of what was it like the first time we experienced something.
Non-striving – this is something we often struggle with because we have been conditioned to pursue goals, push for achievements & accomplishments.
Very often we achieve a goal & yet we take no time to savour the joy of the accomplishment before we are onto the next time. Really the joy is in the journey not the destination. If the journey is so much fun, full of joy & happiness the end result becomes less important!
The funny thing with non-striving is actually once we take the pressure off & start to enjoy the process instead of the outcome, we actually start to ‘achieve’ more!
Gratitude – Cultivating an sense of appreciation & gratitude for our lives, experiences, thoughts, feelings literally helps to rewire our brains. I have practiced gratitude almost daily for the past 8 years & I credit it, together with an almost daily meditation & yoga practice, with changing the way I think about & relate to myself & others.
Heartfulness – in Asian cultures the word for heart & mind are often interchangeable so we can think of the essence of mindfulness as heartfulness.
In the end, as we start to embrace one or two of these attitudes, we begin to see how closely related & interlinked they are & it becomes easier to embrace other attitudes. But just like mindfulness, yoga & meditation, they are all practices. And the more you practice, the more they influence our lives for the better.