Mindfulness

One of the things that was in my homework for this week for therapy was to learn about the concept of Mindfulness. I did a lot of reading on it today and found it really helpful. I printed out about 50 pages of research off the internet, and read a lot more than that as well. Its a really interesting concept.
Mindfulness means, basically, being completely present. Like being in the present moment of where you are, not judging yourself or your thoughts or what you are experiencing, just observing the experience. Its a Buddhist virtue I think.
I read about how to learn to practice it. I think that the hardest part for me is the "non-judgment" part. I tend to judge myself/my thoughts/my experiences harshly all the time, and always call myself stupid, always think everything I say or do is stupid/worthless/etc. THAT is going to be a challenge to get over.With mindfulness you also learn to slow down your thoughts... that is something I'm getting better at doing. My thoughts still race, but not as bad as they used to. Mindfulness also helps you make connections between things, pay attention to your feelings, and notice more of the good experiences that happen to you. Those are all things I need to work on.
Carolineine is really good at "mindfulness" and being in the present moment. It seems like its natural for her. She meditates and does yoga, her thoughts are always calm and logical and she's always present for people when she's talking to them. But as for the rest of us-- this mindfulness thing is REALLY something we need to work on. I really liked reading about it.
I also liked it because I can tell its something that my therapist practices. I can tell that during my sessions, she is really mindful and present when I'm talking, and that is something that is really important to me. I want to be more of that way too because that would be a really good character trait to have.

Books/Products on "Mindfulness"

Posted by pilgrim | Filed under: