Attitudinal Foundations For Mindfulness
On the surface, a Mindfulness practice can look like a dedication to regular meditations. However sitting still and directing the mind is only one part of the experience. The other is the quality of presence that we bring into the meditation. One way of describing this is like the ‘tone of voice’ that you use with yourself. Other people may experience it as a quality of colour, or the physical presence they create.
We may catch ourselves sometimes bringing striving, anger or impatience into our practice. Nothing has gone wrong when this does happen, in fact it is the perfect opportunity to be a witness to our present state and to practice finding out what happens when we have a go at shifting our attitude or presence of being.
*(Self) Compassion
Mindfulness can also be referred to as heartfulness, and I have heard it said that if we are not being kind to ourselves during our practice, then we are not practicing Mindfulness. A great many of us notice during regular meditation the extent to which we give ourselves a hard time (both during meditations, and also just in everyday life). A key quality of Mindfulness is about cultivating a kind and nurturing friendship towards our-self and “Being on our own side”.
*Beginner's Mind
Our brains are stimulated by threats and things that are new and novel. They are very good at making the everyday and neutral things invisible, which means that we miss out on so many opportunities to experience joy, awe and learning. In the beginners mind (sometimes known as the childs mind) we practice seeing and noticing how fantastic even the simplest things are. A 4 year old may be next to a crowd of adults all gazing at a huge spectacular waterfall, and yet bend down and pick up a small leaf, and touch it, smell it, hold it to the light and find it equally as amazing. A beginners mind not only helps us to experience the outside world from a fresh perspective, but it also helps us to notice things about our-self that we had long forgotten about, such as our likes and dislikes and our desires and compulsions.
Non Judging
Our mind will always judge, it is a way of processing information quickly by making shortcuts and rules of thumb. However with practice we can step back and be a witness to our own judgements, and then practise disentangling our self from our judgement and experiencing the world a little more clearly.
Letting Be - Letting Go
This could also be called ‘non interference’. We have a habit of reacting to our thoughts and feelings, chasing pleasure, and pushing away and hiding from pain and difficulty. Letting be means we can let things that are comfortable or uncomfortable simply appear in our consciousness without automatically reacting to them. Interestingly, this also means that we are not holding onto them. When we let things be, they tend to leave of their own accord.
Acceptance
Acceptance is about being truly honest with ourself about how we feel in the current moment. When combined with compassion, and non-judgement, we can be aware that it is okay to feel this way. This provides us with a lot more freedom to make conscious decisions based on where we are right now.
Trust
There are a lot of things we can direct an attitude of trust towards during our practice. I think that directing trust towards a deep inherent reservoir of kindness, nurturance and ability to heal and adapt can be very helpful. Or we can trust in the power of the practice itself, and remembering that mindfulness meditation is slowly changing the way we experience ourself and how we perceive and respond to our world
Patience/Equanimity
There is a wonderful saying “Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you wait”. Equanimity is an ‘even-ness of mind’ and allows us to remain balanced even when troubles arise. During Mindful meditation we can practice patience and equanimity when thoughts and sensations arise and pull for our attention, can we allow them to remain, and yet remain relatively still and untroubled.
*Non Striving
Perhaps one of the most paradoxical and hard to grasp of the foundations. When we are not striving, we are simply content to be as we are, with no need to change, alter, reach or grasp. A common form of striving in meditation is the desire to ‘meditate well’ be a good student, have a clear mind, and feel calm and relaxed. Mindfulness meditation does not ask for us to do any of these things, as they are all forms of striving. All we have to do is ‘simply be’ and notice what arises.
