What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness, or mindful practice, refers to any activity where we use our relaxed awareness to engage the present situation without resistance or judgment. Mindfulness is a core thread running through many of the world’s wisdom traditions. Taoism, Buddhism, Stoicism, and Gestalt Psychotherapy all focus on mindfulness as the central practice for flourishing, increasing understanding, and decreasing suffering. Authors like Pirsig and Tolle have unpacked fundamental parts of mindful practice, through relaxed attention to quality and acceptance of the present moment, respectively.
These traditions and authors are some of the sources that provide functional information about mindfulness. There are many other activities, systems, and practices that contain versions of these ideas. There are activities where the mindful element is explicitly central to the practice, such as meditation, martial arts, yoga etc. Then, there are activities where mindfulness is likely to promote the success of the practice, as with dialogue, leadership, and master craftsmanship.
Ultimately though, mindfulness is a part of any practice where healthy, relaxed contact between the self and other is sustained and developed. So, one way to understand the aim of mindfulness practice is to develop the capacity to bring relaxed awareness to every moment and every activity in our lives. Take the zen phrase “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” One way to understand that phrase is that mindfulness does not require a fundamental change in our day to day activities, but instead is about how we approach those activities. Our mindset and posture towards the activities, especially our expectations and constructed narratives, are what change as a result of mindfulness. So, no matter how far into the process you get, you still chop wood and cary water, but you do so without resistance and with joy in the simple qualities of those activities.
These traditions and authors are some of the sources that provide functional information about mindfulness. There are many other activities, systems, and practices that contain versions of these ideas. There are activities where the mindful element is explicitly central to the practice, such as meditation, martial arts, yoga etc. Then, there are activities where mindfulness is likely to promote the success of the practice, as with dialogue, leadership, and master craftsmanship.
Ultimately though, mindfulness is a part of any practice where healthy, relaxed contact between the self and other is sustained and developed. So, one way to understand the aim of mindfulness practice is to develop the capacity to bring relaxed awareness to every moment and every activity in our lives. Take the zen phrase “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” One way to understand that phrase is that mindfulness does not require a fundamental change in our day to day activities, but instead is about how we approach those activities. Our mindset and posture towards the activities, especially our expectations and constructed narratives, are what change as a result of mindfulness. So, no matter how far into the process you get, you still chop wood and cary water, but you do so without resistance and with joy in the simple qualities of those activities.
Why Is Mindfulness Valuable?
Mindfulness allows for “good fit” between the self and experiences, such that healthy contact is achieved. The goal of mindful practice is to contact every moment with good fit, meaning with flexibility and without resistance, and to be able to notice without judgment when we begin to behave unconsciously, so that we may gently return to being mindful.
Mindfulness is essential to achieving flow states, where the self and the other that is acted upon drop away, and there is only the action occurring naturally. Flow states, as explored by Csikszentmihalyi, allow for optimized performance by removing any egoic distractions to the activity at hand. The individual can then use their abilities fully and in perfect harmony with the needs of the situation. To be in a mindful flow state is to see things as they are, to feel where action will be functional and where it will not, and therefore to act only when it is necessary and only to the degree that is required.
Finally, mindfulness is the strongest medicine available for easing the suffering that arises simply from being a person with attachments, judgments, and expectations.
Mindfulness is essential to achieving flow states, where the self and the other that is acted upon drop away, and there is only the action occurring naturally. Flow states, as explored by Csikszentmihalyi, allow for optimized performance by removing any egoic distractions to the activity at hand. The individual can then use their abilities fully and in perfect harmony with the needs of the situation. To be in a mindful flow state is to see things as they are, to feel where action will be functional and where it will not, and therefore to act only when it is necessary and only to the degree that is required.
Finally, mindfulness is the strongest medicine available for easing the suffering that arises simply from being a person with attachments, judgments, and expectations.
How Does One Develop Mindfulness?
Mindfulness as a practice has no point of completion or ultimate achievement. It is always possible to be more mindful, to close the gaps more between moments of good contact and to bring more mindfulness to every important part of each moment. The method I’ve learned involves a variety of mindful activities, combined with reading and discussion on the practices. I’ve included below a list of source materials that I believe provide the clearest paths to mindfulness. In the adjoining pages, I will discuss the central insights of these works and functional practices that one can derive from them. Like the universe, these resource pages will be a continual unfolding. I believe that anyone can increase their capacity for mindfulness by exploring this material.