Becoming mindful through practice
Becoming mindful is a series of consistent efforts and will power to make the right choices during testing and tempting situations. The first step to developing mindfulness is to identify ‘opportunity windows’ in one’s life where mindfulness can be practiced. While these could be many and can be customized based on the life style and routine patterns of individuals, listed below are some commonly identified methods.
1. Meditation:
Meditation is a great method to start focusing the mind and limiting any possible distractions from within. It is the practice through which one becomes watchful of one’s thoughts and becomes aware of the sources of distraction. There are many types of meditation techniques that have benefitted many in different ways. Adopting a regular time slot during the day to perform meditation and consistently keeping to the routine is critical in the initial days.
2. Abstract Reading:
Abstract reading is a thinking technique towards mindfulness. Abstract thinking helps to open the mind beyond its comfort zones. Reading philosophy, or about the origins of the universe, etc. help in questioning the fundamental constructs about life. This process of going within and questioning existing paradigms is a useful way for creating awareness of the way one thinks. Awareness of one’s thinking process- meaning to say the ability to trace the thoughts in a sequential back ward or forward manner is a huge up skilling technique leading to enhanced mindfulness. When one begins to think about a particular topic, depending on the level of one’ self awareness, he or she may have not known what triggered the origin of the thought. In an ongoing thought process where one thought leads to another, the individual suddenly becomes conscious of his thinking and questions how and where this thinking process originated. Abstract reading and parallel thinking are techniques that help tremendously in creating this awareness of the origins of thought within the mind.
3. Performing complex tasks:
When individuals are placed in a situation which demands completion of a complex task, there automatically emerges the need for deploying the mind in as much entirety as one can. The task needs to be complex for the individual such that with a certain degree of stretch he or she would be able to accomplish this. Complex tasks could be anything between creating data packed presentation slides or learning tennis or learning a skill such as car driving. Undertaking and completing complex tasks can be exhausting for the initial few times. However gradually these complex tasks provide immense opportunity to become watchful of what one is doing. The inherent need to hold concentration for the complex task provides for opportunities to become watchful of all that is happening while performing the activity.(Source: Flow- The psychology of optimal experience- Conditions of Flow- pages 73 to 83)
4. Creative tasks:
Creativity brings in a high level of mindfulness. Artistic expressions such as dance, music, painting all have within them the ability to draw a deep inner sense for the individual. These activities tend to trigger and open up certain closed corners of the mind which may have been ignored due to the over indulgence of the other parts of the mind in completing the routine activities. As inner layers open up during creative exercises, there is further opportunity to become aware of the creative process and begin to be mindful.
Depending on the consistency with which one engages in these activities, flowering of mindfulness occurs. At evolved stages of mindfulness one would be able to become mindful even while performing a non-complex and seemingly mundane act such as peeling an onion. At this stage, the ability of the mind to focus on even a simple task at hand increases immensely from practice such that there arises no need for a ‘window’ for practicing mindfulness. Every activity in one’s life can effectively create mindfulness.
Conclusion
It does appear that becoming mindful is no child’s play. It requires a great amount of investment of time and energy from oneself. This is why there is a need to understand the underlying motivation for creating mindfulness for oneself. Unless there is a strong underlying need or motive, one that can push the individual during testing situations there is imminent danger is slipping by. During the coming ages, knowledge alone is unlikely to be differentiator to superior performance. There is an increasing common awareness about the rarity of skills such as creativity, right brain lateral thinking, empathy and so forth. Most of these skills are an outcome of developing consistent mindfulness. While for some the need to become mindful can be emanating from the need to learn any of the above skills, for a few others, becoming mindful is an end in itself and not a journey. Therefore whatever the source of one’s bliss is, one ought to follow it.
References
Flow- The Psychology of optimal experience- authored by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness
Four Functions of the Mind- http://swamij.com/fourfunctionsmind.htm#coordinate
Meditation and Mindfulness – Osho
Quantum Mind and healing- Arnold Mindell
Code Name God- Mani Bhoumik