the way of Silent Mind-Open Heart: Mindfulness

Mindfulness

by Philip L. Jones

Insight meditation teaches us relaxation, serenity and an openness to each moment through mindfulness, a practice which cultivates a clear, stable and non-judgmental awareness. Mindfulness practice is highly effective in bringing calmness and clarity to life's ups and downs. It can also open us to the full development of wisdom and compassion.

Some Characteristics of Mindfulness

• Mindfulness is non-judgmental observation. It is the ability of the mind to observe without criticism. With this ability, one sees things without condemnation or judgment.

• In order to observe our fear, we must accept the fact that we are afraid. ... The same is true for irritation and agitation, frustration and all those other uncomfortable emotional states. You can't examine something fully if you are busy rejecting its existence. Whatever experience we may be having, mindfulness just accepts it.

• Mindfulness does not get infatuated with the good mental states. It does not try to sidestep the bad mental states. There is no clinging to the pleasant, no fleeing from the unpleasant. Mindfulness treats all experiences equally, all thoughts equally, all feelings equally.

• Mindfulness is non-conceptual awareness...."bare attention." It is not thinking. It does not get involved with thoughts or concepts. It does not get hung up on ideas or opinions or memories. It just looks.

• It is not analysis which is based on reflection and memory. It is, rather, the direct and immediate experiencing of whatever is happening, without the medium of thought.

• It is the observance of what is happening right now, in the present moment.

• ... In meditation, one's field of study is one's own experience, one's thoughts, one's feelings, and one's perceptions.

• Mindfulness is objective, but it is not cold or unfeeling. It is the wakeful experience of life, an alert participation in the ongoing process of living.

-- Ven. Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English, Wisdom Publications,pp. 151-154.

These characteristics are provided to help in the cultivation of your own mindfulness. These are not "should's" to use in a critical way againstyourself. If you find you are judging yourself for not being mindful, try to respond in a gentle and accepting way while being mindful of and noting that "judging."