related to Chapter 1 Introduction, Myths and misconceptions
in the book MINDFULNESS – A PRACTICAL GUIDE
“The Truth is simple, mind makes things complicated” Grandmother PaRisHa
The distinction between classical meditation and mindfulness practice made it more clear for me, what mindfulness really is.
Mindfulness practice is also using meditation. However, the purpose is to train the mind to become aware and present.
It is not using a meditation to transcend into another state of being nor to reach emptiness of thoughts and emotion.
Befriending what is
In mindfulness, our trained mind experiences all thoughts and emotions (and our immediate environment) only in the NOW, the present moment. We are befriending the person, we already are and the place where we are sitting
Experience what is – in a non-judgemental way
In mindfulness, our trained mind does not condemn, judge or deny the experience which arise in the NOW (thoughts emotions, input from the environment). I started to train my mind more often and consciously now. And I noticed the stream of thoughts and emotions. I was not only observing, but pretty quickly got entangled in them.
It is important that we do not focus on wanting to analyze what is happening, trying to fix it, and get entangled in the stream of thoughts and emotions.
Only a trained mind can give full attention to the present
Therefore, the practices outlined in this book are very helpful and essential to reach a state of consistent mindfulness throughout the day.
We need to take time for training the mind, It helps to keep a notebook, noting our challenges and our victories. At a first glance, I thought the mindfulness training sounds simple. Soon, I realized this is not a quick easy fix. It takes patient and consistent training.