Attention is considered one of the basic psychological processes. So, we would say that we all, within a normal situation, attend. The ingredient that brings the discipline of Full attention (one of the ways to define the term Mindfulness), is to become aware of where we are directing our attention; namely, realize what we attend and what we do.
If not, we operate with the aforementioned "automatic pilot", assuming too many things and allowing time and the events of our life to slip through our fingers.
Mindfulness us anchor to the present moment almost inevitably. The disappearance of past obsessions and future worries, even for a moment, they allow a renewing, great, amplifying experience. The present is the only thing that belongs to us, that does not belong to us, but nevertheless, It is the only reality that we live in every second that passes, and it is the only scenario where we have the possibility to change, to act.
In the discipline of Mindfulness, seven basic attitudes are discussed:
In this way there is room for a awakening of our essential nature that in most cases has been undermined under a lot of thoughts, of memories, masks and identifications both with ourselves and with the world around us.
Not judging allows things to be the way they have to be without resistance, accepting the free flow of life within our own existence, without getting impatient waiting for everything to be as we want.
It is not believing ourselves to be as big or as omnipotent as we do, so self-centered, and trusting in a higher nature that works beyond our mind and our ideals. Acceptance leads us to the truth, for when we stop fighting what is, Masks fall and clarity and authenticity are revealed.
Getting a beginner's mind, I think, is one of the most beautiful gifts we can give ourselves. To recover that innocence, not ignorance, of when we saw life without expectations and even without past or future. Where contemplating a tree or a bird could be an extraordinary experience and we did not take anything for granted. Each day was a new day, and each person, each step, each detail, a renewed and revealing experience of multiple possibilities. Return to innocence from a wisdom that has been falling on us over the years.
Mindfulness is an awakening of the mind to a new reality that has always been there but that we have stopped paying attention to.. It's getting into real contact with what I'm doing, or who I'm talking to, or with each step that I take as I walk. Everything takes on a greater importance and, at the same time, more humble, since fulfillment comes from the very experience of what I experience internally by doing this and without expecting anything else..
Our mind is building stories non-stop, as ephemeral as a soap bubble that suddenly explodes and disappears into nothingness. Doing a formal practice such as meditation allows us to stop and observe ourselves for a while. And observing us must be from a compassionate attitude towards ourselves, simply accepting the reality of who we are and have been so far and giving us the possibilities of change that may unfold before us when we begin to pay special attention.
Meditating is not saying "enough" to thoughts, but to observe them while I am aware that I am not them, but rather that I am something greater that observes and that is aware that all this is happening inside me.
Formal practice is the engine that invites you to begin then to practice an informal practice, which would be the live my daily life with more awareness, deciding with more property and responsibility. It would be doing housework being aware of what I am doing, accompanying me in this action. It would be observing my fingers as they write this entirely with my mind and my body, which channels these thoughts, working as a holistic whole that allows this reality here and now..
And then, thank. Because there is nothing more profound and pacifying than discovering that what I desperately seek outside is here with me always, waiting, patiently, for me to want to see it.. It is coming home after a long journey. Is to rest.
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