We encounter the term “mindfulness” frequently: In the social networks, on web sites, in the news media, even on television. This term means different things to different people. I have no argument with them. I will explain how I understand “Mindfulness” and use the term on this website and in my teaching.

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention on purpose, in this present moment, with particular intentions.

Where we direct attention, whether attention is broad and diffuse or narrowly and intensely focused, shapes our experience and our understanding of ourselves, one another, and our world.

Attention can be directed towards the sense of our bodies, our perceptions of the environment, and whatever is present in our environment in this moment, or it can be directed towards our thoughts and imaginings of the future, remembering and re-living the past, and towards what we think others are feeling or thinking. This can be described as “mental time-travel” (future or past), and “mind-reading”. We can also engage in a variety of abstract forms of thought I will call “problem-solving”. There is nothing wrong with this. The capacity for mental time travel, mind reading, and abstract reasoning underlie our capacity to learn from experience, anticipate and plan for the future, comprehend others and experience empathy. Indeed, these activities underlie wonderful creative and intellectual processes, and our very survival. However, we tend to neglect the richness of present moment experience, thinking about what is not happening right now in favor of thinking about what may have happened or has not yet happened or what may be happening elsewhere, missing out on what’s going on this very moment here in our own selves and our own lives.

Mindfulness is the capacity to pay attention to what is happening right now, in this present moment, non-judgmentally: Our bodily sensations, feelings, perceptions, our restless and wandering mind – to ourselves in our environment right now in this present moment. And to do this with particular intentions.

The intentions of mindfulness:

• to perceive with curiosity and a sense of wonder
• without judgement or explanation
• without favoring one object of attention over another
• and without getting caught up in and swept away by whatever it is we are noticing, no matter how intense or compelling the moment might be.
  • This has been described by the analogy of “watching the whirlpool without getting sucked down into it.”

Mindfulness, as I use it here, includes both mindfully experiencing the present moment as well as the practices which cultivate the capacity to be mindfully present in this moment. These practices include focused attention practices (often called meditation), mindful movement  such as yoga and mindful walking, and informal practices like eating mindfully. 

Most importantly, mindfulness refers to mindful living, the capacity to be mindfully present to the mundane, the routine, and the uncomfortable, as well as to the special moments in our day.

Mindfulness is a capacity we all have and can be cultivated. It is practical and serves our well-being in everyday life.

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the most influential in the development of secular evidence-based western mindfulness: “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, and then I sometimes add, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”