Personal Growth by Understanding Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice that I’ve found to be a critical part of personal growth. In fact, I have a Mindfulness-Based Group that is based on using mindfulness as a way to reduce stress and improve the quality of life. I will be sharing in a series of blog posts information about mindfulness and how you can practice it daily as a powerful resource in your own life.

Let’s start with an explanation about what mindfulness is. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is responsible for bringing this practice to mainstream medicine. His definition of mindfulness is as follows:

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way;

On purpose,
in the present moment, and
nonjudgmentally.”

Mindfulness is bringing awareness to the here and now without trying to change it. Dr. Kabat-Zinn equates this practice to tuning an instrument. This means that if we practice this increased awareness of body, mind, heart and soul we are basically tuning our instrument before we take it on the road. To me it sounds really responsible and conscientious approach to life.

The contrast is mindlessness. This is something we’ve probably all experienced — a loss of awareness which results in forgetfulness, separation from self, and a sense of living mechanically. Sounds stressful – doesn’t it? I’ll be sharing the specific benefits of mindfulness in my next post followed by strategies on implementing mindfulness into your daily life.