Mindfulness Meditation

This is a thread about Mindfulness meditation. I encourage you all to ask questions if you are new to it, or to share your own experiences and thoughts about it.

For me, Mindfulness is an increasingly important part of my life, and one of the most effective coping mechanisms I have...

My introduction to the Westernised concept of Mindfulness started with a book called "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. It's even available as an audio book, read by the man himself. Once you get past the funny German accent and the calm voice that sounds like he swallowed a fistful of diazepam half an hour before the recording session, it's a great way to consume his words. I used to listen to it in the car on the way to work or, even better, on public transport.

Mindfulness, simply put, is making sure that you are "right here, right now". It is a form of meditation, a way of appreciating and experiencing the world around you. Forget about your past or your future. Focus on this "Now" moment that is actually the only moment that will ever exist. Observe and experience the sensations of tasting this apple, or looking at that drop of dew sparkling in the morning sun.

I have been gradually increasing my mindfulness meditation to the point where it is a major part of my every day. For me, meditation should not be about sitting uncomfortably cross-legged for 30 minutes a day at 9:30 each morning, chanting a calming mantra and focusing on emptying my mind. That doesn't work for me. Meditation is simply living life in the now, without all of the constant chatter of my thoughts and emotions distracting me, flitting around like butterflies. Meditation can be practised at any time in any place. You can be standing in a crowded noisy train getting bounced this way and that, and still be meditating.

Meditation is calmness. It energises you. It relaxes you. It increases your resilience. It improves your focus. It allows you to cope. It makes you appreciate life on so many more levels than you ever thought possible. It is the single most important wellness strategy that I have.

The whole concept of time is just about the biggest enemy of Mindfulness. It's all about the Now moment. Time as we know it so often disregards the Now moment. We're so busy with the swirling churning thoughts in our head, worrying about deadlines or possible problems in the future, or caught up in guilt and other baggage from the past, that there is no possible way we are ever going to succeed in being Mindful or truly present in the Now...

That's the whole point of Mindfulness. Calm the thoughts and emotions tearing you away from what you are doing, sensing and feeling right at this very moment.

Your thoughts will be going "I don't have time for this. There's an exam coming up. I need to put the bins out tonight. Is it recycling week? What are we going to have for dinner? I need to go shopping. Damn! I forgot to call grandma again. She must really hate me. I hope Aunty Beryl is going to be okay..." and so on and so on and so on... thoughts, thoughts, thoughts... dragging us away...

Did you even taste that strawberry? Did you even notice that you ate it? It's gone down your gullet and you forgot to enjoy it. There is a moment of pleasure in the Now, gone. And now you feel bad about failing to be Mindful, and that then drags you away from the next strawberry...

I won't say Mindfulness is an easy thing to do at first, even though it's actually the easiest thing in the world to do. Young children do it instinctively. But we have spent a lifetime becoming indoctrinated and enslaved by our inner world of thoughts, and there is much to unlearn, much inner turmoil to still, before we can naturally and easily enter a state of Mindfulness meditation, even in a crowded noisy room...

It's well worth the effort. It's a game changer...

I will structure my thoughts some more, and write further posts on Mindfulness shortly. I wrote some things about it on another forum that I feel capture it well, so I need to find them.

Also, I am now going to go for a morning walk down on the esplanade by the water, putting Mindfulness into practice. Many hugs and happy vibes beaming to you all... 🙂