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Please see today's book review.
What is Mindfulness? By Simon Parke Long practised in the East, mindfulness is now well established in the West and widely used by those seeking psychological or spiritual change in their lives. But what is mindfulness and what benefits does it bring?
A simple definition is this: mindfulness is keeping your consciousness alive to the present moment, and this is harder than it sounds. Most of the time, our minds are either taking us back into the past or somewhere into the imaginary future, neither of which is helpful. The past is stale bread, the future’s no bread but the present is fresh bread. Which do you fancy?
Our breathing is a great help in becoming present, because, unlike our mind, it’s always in the moment. Becoming aware of your breathing, in and out, is a wonderful start to arriving in the now.
How mindful are you? Here’s one simple test: when we make a cup of tea without thinking, ‘What am I going to do next?’ then we are mindful. If we are making plans whilst making tea then we are not present to the tea. We are happier when we notice what is now and let the future – and the past- take care of itself.
Mindfulness says, ‘Stop thinking’. It invites us to stop wandering off into imaginings about the past or about what we want or don’t want in the future. Instead, we focus on our breathing. Thoughts will arise, and we watch them as they do but we neither identify with them nor judge them. We simply allow them. Soon, we become aware of the changeableness of our minds, and in time, begin to take our thoughts less seriously. This is liberating, for we’ve been their unquestioning slave for too long, and they don’t offer us the ‘reality’ we imagine.
We are shaped by what we do with our negative experiences. Depression, for instance, is a turning away from experience in order to avoid emotional pain. Mindfulness doesn’t stop negative thoughts or feelings, but does help us to question their believability. Are these negative feelings quite as solid as they appear? It helps to change our perception of life. You’ll need to give up your opinions of course. You cannot be mindful whilst holding onto your opinions. That’s like trying to keep dry by jumping into the sea.
Add a spoonful of salt to a glass of water and it makes a significant difference. Add the same spoon of salt to a jug of water and it makes some difference. But add it to a lake, and it hardly affects anything. Mindfulness makes a lake of us. In the present, we have endless inner space, which is a great step towards happiness. Difficult emotions, like the salt, may remain but their power to affect us is diffused. Previously they could ruin our day but now they can barely ruin five minutes. Simon Parke
I have a small glass sign that says "Live in the moment" Like everyone, sometimes in takes real effort to bring myself back into the moment. When life is going well and the future seems exciting, its very difficult not to keep projecting my ideas too far ahead. I am going to read Simon Parke's latest book and and add some of his teachings to my spiritual tool-kit!
Simon Parkes is the author of One-Minute Mindfulness and One-Minute Mystic, available now from Hay House Publishers. http://www.hayhouse.co.uk/
Love and Blessings for a wonderful weekend,
Jean Fisher-Taylor x
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