Mindfulness…

It is on the minds and lips of so many people these days. Dare I say that mindfulness is the new KALE?

But what is mindfulness, really?

There are a variety of answers, many valid and many vague. In the clinical world there is Mindfulness Based Cognitive therapy (MBCT) which is gaining popularity across the mental health world. Taken directly from the MBCT website,

“Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is designed to help people who suffer repeated bouts of depression and chronic unhappiness. It combines the ideas of cognitive therapy with meditative practices and attitudes based on the cultivation of mindfulness. The heart of this work lies in becoming acquainted with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously learning to develop a new relationship to them. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.” http://mbct.com/

And yet another source for the meaning of mindfulness is Harvard researcher, Dr. Ellen Langer, who defines mindfulness as, simply, the absence of mindlessness,

“Mindfulness… is the process of actively noticing new things, relinquishing preconceived mindsets, and then acting on the new observations.”
http://www.ellenlanger.com/

Wikipedia tells us that mindfulness,

“…is derived from the Pali-term sati, ‘mindfulness’, which is an essential element of Buddhist practice, including vipassana, satipaṭṭhāna and anapanasati. Mindfulness techniques and approaches are based on Eastern ancient philosophy and practices, but they are not used in therapeutic ways as part of any religious tradition.

Practicing Mindfulness

Many people inquire about whether I use mindfulness in my practice and the answer is YES, but while I am very familiar with MBCT, I am also drawn to Dr. Langer and her very straightforward approach of simply trying to pay more attention to the world around me to avoid moving through my life in a mindless way. She encourages noticing new things every day and by paying better attention, we will be more engaged in our lives and the world around us.

Today on my commute to work, usually a very mindless trip as I drive the same route in the same car listening to the same NPR station, I tried to be more mindful. I noticed that the sky looked far too autumnal for my taste in mid-August with grey clouds and only the tiniest glimpses of sharp blue. I noticed some men raising an event tent at the office structure near my house and that may signal an employee picnic tomorrow. Lastly, I noticed an older and somewhat frail-looking man riding his bicycle down the road and was delighted to see that he had streamers on his handlebars.
Seeing him pedaling along with his streamers made me smile and lifted my spirits.

Mindfulness can be a valuable tool in therapy, but you need not wait for a specific setting, clinician or theory to start noticing and engaging in and with your world.