What is Mindfulness?

The mind’s capacity for deception is limitless. Our ability to convince ourselves of a certain version of reality, sometimes differing greatly from one day to the next, is remarkable. One day we can be convinced that we will do amazingly on that upcoming big job interview and the next morning, closer to the date, we can be filled with doubt and irrefutable thoughts that we were simply not cut out for this. Meanwhile, nothing else objectively needs to have changed. On a larger scale, our perceived sense of separateness or, at times, loneliness is another such construction. We move about the world thinking, feeling, and acting from a me-versus-the-other point of view, which, while crucial for the survival of our physical beings in this world, begets a sense of disconnection, mis-identification with the material world, and, in extreme cases, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. In a vast majority of cases, we set up our entire lives around these constructions, while our societies and cultures do nothing to help us dissolve these illusions. We go about life as if what is right in front of us is all that there is in this world, all the while experiencing a quiet but consistent sense of unfulfillment and dissatisfaction with the ups and downs of our lives and the insatiability of our thirsts. What is one to do to stop this self-perpetuating cycle? Supposedly, the Buddha, some 2500 years ago, said that we need to wake up.

Mindfulness was proposed as a solution. Having a wide variety of definitions in both Eastern and Western traditions, mindfulness is a complex construct to grasp at first, and an even more challenging one to practice as we repeatedly try to wake ourselves up. At first glance, mindfulness is attention training. Broken down into its core elements, mindfulness comprises of intention, attention, and equanimity. In being mindful, we use a sense of conviction or intention to repeatedly redirect our attention to a chosen object (such as the breath, a part of the body, the person we are conversing with, or the page of the book we are reading) while cultivating an internal atmosphere of compassionate even-mindedness, or equanimity, that embraces all pleasant and unpleasant experiences. It is typically practiced in a formal way, also called “sitting meditation practice”, or in an informal way, while we go about our day-to-day lives.

Despite popular belief, mindfulness is not about stopping our thoughts, relaxing, or becoming an imperturbable super-human. It is the ability to develop a meta-awareness, or awareness of our awareness, and redirect attention to wherever we would like for it to be, with intention and compassion. It is about practicing this ability repeatedly and unfailingly in an effort to closely witness and stay connected to the joys as well as all the pain, suffering, and heartbreaks that are inherent and crucial to the human condition. It is training ourselves to relate differently to what happens around us and to us in order to gain wisdom into what it means to live a human life. Ultimately, this contemplative practice is about developing an ability to “see” clearly – not in a sensory or visual way, but in an embodied way that combines experience, insight, and wisdom with awakening. Through consistent practice, enough curiosity, and brazen courage enveloped by our equanimity, mindfulness, in the end, calls ‘you’ to give up being mindful. Ultimately, mindfulness is about letting go of the illusion of control and of a separate, unitary self. It is about getting out of the way and stopping meditating so that we are no longer the ones who are meditating but are that which witnesses the meditation happening. In doing so, we bring ourselves closer to the ebb and flow of our lives and experience it without the collusion of self-evaluation, self-doubt, self-defense, or a separated sense of self. Without this distraction, we are free to experience an expanded perspective and clarity in witnessing the world around us, with an increased sense of wellbeing, peace, and happiness being a welcome side-effect.