Developing Mindfulness, by Catherine Sutton Options

In order to gain more insight into what we are doing and why, it is important to develop a quality of mindfulness. Increased awareness brings greater equanimity into our lives.

Mindfulness is about developing a continuous awareness of all the tasks we do and the thoughts we have during the course of a normal day. We should pay the most attention to what we do automatically — like drinking a cup of tea, going to the lavatory, washing the dishes, running up and down stairs. So often we do not have our minds on what we are doing — our bodies are doing one thing and our minds are on a totally different tack, which creates disharmony. In order to turn off our “automatic pilot”, we need to develop more awareness of what we are doing, to do things more slowly, so that we can see each part of the routine action more clearly. Try doing tasks as though for the first time, so that they require your full concentration.

How often do you get to the top of the stairs and do not remember why you went up there in the first place? Have you ever overslept for ten minutes, got up in a rush, and spent the rest of the day catching up? If we become conscious of each change and reaction that takes place in the body, we can see things as they arise rather than after they have happened.

Exercise in Mindfulness
Choose something you do without thinking regularly during the day — such as making a cup of coffee. Start by making a resolution that you are going to follow through this exercise without interruptions. Do it with careful attention, very slowly, and notice each part of the task as you do it. See how easy it is to speed up again as you forget that you are trying to do it slowly!

Take the kettle and fill it with water, turning the tap on slowly, turning it off with great caution. Place the kettle back on the stove without a bump; wait for it to boil. Don’t go off and do ten jobs while it comes to the boil. Take out your cup and place the coffee filter into it and very carefully pour the water onto it. Wait for it to drip for the required amount of time, and then put the filter in the trash can. Walk slowly over to the refrigerator, open the door carefully, take out the milk and close the door. Walk back to the cup and pour in the milk as slowly as you can, and then return it to the refrigerator.

Sit down. Wait. Pick up the cup carefully, as though it would break if you touched it forcefully. Bring the cup to your mouth very slowly. Sip the coffee and really taste it, feel the texture of it, notice the temperature of it. Place the cup down, wait, pause, pick it up again and continue like this until you have finished. Notice how often during this simple routine your mind wanders on to something else.

Be aware of:
• your impatience at the slow speed, • what it feels like to be attentive to this task, • how often your mind wanders off elsewhere.

If you do this a number of times, you will recognize that we spend very little time in the present. So much of the day is spent doing things physically, while the mind is somewhere else, leading to confusion, forgetfulness, and a feeling of not being in control.

Other ways of developing mindfulness are to listen to ourselves and to ask:
• what am I doing?
• why am I doing it?
• do I listen well to others?

Reflect inward more frequently and check in to what is going on inside. Try to make space between tasks that you do, consciously completing one before you start the next. Finish the day by recapping what you have done during the day.

here's a good book on the topic:
Mindfulness in Plain English by Henepola Gunaratana

if paper is your thing and you don't have a printer, you can buy it from Amazon for example.

There are a number of interesting resources available on the topic of mindfulness at
http://www.buddhanet.net/
Use the site search function on the top right corner of the webpage.

I have tried various exercises in mindfulness and it never ceases to amaze me what a mess my mind is, always jumping around and thinking about things i've done or things i'm going to do but hardly ever about what i'm actually doing right now.

There is so much distraction in modern life, always something calling for our attention, that this is hardly surprising I suppose. I get in the car to drive to work, immediately I put on the radio or cd and my mind is on auto pilot. In the past I have meant to go the shops after work and found myself at home having driven on auto pilot all the way. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/7.gif)

I know exactly what you mean Mediocracy. Mindfulness is a neccesary thing we must practice in our lifes and learn to unprogram our patterns to help stop being in autopilot mode most of the time. Meditations helps a lot on this for me. Nice links!

Walking Meditation

This is a great way to cultivate mindfulness, since most of us walk quite a bit. To meditate upon walking, it is best to begin by being mindful of the act of stepping while you make a note silently in the mind: "Stepping, stepping, stepping," or "Left, right, left, right."

After a few hours or after a day or two of meditation, you could move onto being mindful of two occurences: (1) stepping and (2) putting down the foot, while making the mental note (stepping, putting down." You will try to be mindful of two stages in the step: "stepping, putting down; stepping, putting down."

Later, you could move onto being mindful of three stages: (1) lifting the foot, (2) moving or pushing the foot forward, and (3) putting the foot down. Still later, you could go on to be mindful of four stages in each step: (1) lifting the foot, (2) moving it forward, (3) putting it down, and (4) touching or pressing the foot on the ground. This would then be a mental note of "lifting, moving forward, putting down, pressing the ground."

You'll probably walk at a slower speed than normal during this practice. At first one may find it difficult to slow down, but as you pay close attention to all of the movements involved, you will slow down automatically.

When I feel lacking in mindfullness, I enjoy trying to become aware of my senses; all too often people tend to walk through life only half aware of what their senses are telling them. The smells in the air, the sounds in the distance, the sights and motions in the environment, and the textures we encounter can really be helpful things to take note of. If we are going to be suck in an illusion, we might as well make it a detailed one, no? I find it easy considering my predatory habits (I am really amazed at how many predatory behaviors I do have and am just now coming to realize upon totem exploration...), but many people would be surprised at how much paying attention to the environment educates one about themselves; isn't that to be expected, considering the environment and the self are the same thing in actuality?

As I consciously intensify the calibration of my concentration - figures, and dynamics of their interrelations, in the field of my awareness become more perceptually distinguished.

Sunlight sparkles from the raindrops on the grass. Leaves whisper as wind slides through the fingers of trees. The stone beneath my feet is firm.

That is fantastic. I must try it.