TRAINING YOUR MIND

❝Mindfulness allows you to experience your life in the present without ruminating about what just happened, or what should have happened, or almost happened, or what might yet happen.❞ -Sam Harris

Do you ever catch yourself replaying a moment from earlier—something you said, or didn’t say—and suddenly you’re in a full-blown conversation in your head?

Maybe it’s that awkward thing from yesterday. Or a big thing coming up next week. Or just a running to-do list that never seems to end.

Most of us spend a good chunk of our day talking to ourselves. The only catch is… we don’t always realize we’re doing it. And when we’re thinking without knowing we’re thinking, we’re not really here. We’re somewhere else entirely.

That’s what mindfulness helps with. It brings us back to the present.

AWARENESS AND ATTENTION

To understand how mindfulness works, it helps to understand attention.

Awareness is broad. It’s everything you can notice—sounds, sensations, emotions, thoughts.

Attention is narrow. It’s what you focus on inside all that.

You can think of awareness like a floodlight—it lights up the whole room.

Attention is more like a flashlight—you aim it where you want to look.

There are so many things competing for your attention: work, relationships, responsibilities, your own thoughts.

And then there’s everything you didn’t ask for—social media, comparisons, and those endless pings and notifications.

The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire measures your level of mindfulness among five interrelated components. These components are observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudgment of inner experiences, and not reactivity to inner experiences. They can be helpful in gaining an understanding of the areas of mindfulness in which you may want to focus.

MINDFULNESS HELPS YOU RESPOND, NOT REACT

A lot of the time, we’re on autopilot. Something happens, and we react. Without thinking. Without choosing.

That’s when we’re most likely to say something we didn’t mean. Or make a choice that doesn’t really fit who we want to be.

Mindfulness helps us build space between what happens and what we do next.

Meditation is how we train for that. It strengthens the hand that holds the attention flashlight.

Being mindful doesn’t mean you have to like everything that happens. It just means you don’t have to feel worse than you already do while dealing with it.

The quality of your attention shapes the quality of your experience.

And the quality of your mind shapes the quality of your life.

We know why it’s worth taking care of our bodies. Why not treat our minds with the same care?

You already train your body. What might change if you trained your mind?

You get one life; live intentionally.

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REFERENCES AND INFLUENCES

Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler: The Art of Happiness

Gillihan, Seth: Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Hanh, Thich Nhat: You Are Here

Hanson, Rick & Richard Mendius: Buddha’s Brain

Harris, Dan: 10% Happier

Harris, Sam: Waking Up

Kabat-Zinn, Jon: Wherever You Go, There You Are