6 Lessons Yoda Can Teach You About Mindfulness

Mindfulness and Star Wars have more in common than you may think.

Amidst the big battle between good and evil, flashy lightsabers and dubious hairstyles, lies the true wisdom of Jediism — mindfulness.

Despite his scrawny, green and bald demeanor, Yoda is perhaps one of the biggest gurus of mindfulness in the world of Star Wars.

Here’s what I have learned about mindfulness from Yoda:

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
- Yoda

When Luke Skywalker whined about how he’ll never get the x-wing fighter out of the lake, this was Yoda’s line.

Words like “try” are defeatist, and show self-doubt. Self-doubt stems from fear.

Fear of not attaining that goal, fear of being embarrassed, fear of failing.

Mindful living is living in the now, but once your mind (incorrectly) predicts the future instead of being in the present, you stop being mindful.

You have to commit your attention 100% to the now, set aside your doubts and be fully present. Put all your effort into whatever it is you are planning to achieve, and you will reach your goals.

A real world example:

“I will try to exercise twice a week.”

You are not committed. You give leeway to yourself with the word “try”, because then anything can be an excuse not to. Like a last-minute dinner invite from a friend, a traffic jam, or the fact that you look lumpy in your training attire.

“I will exercise twice a week.”

Here you are more determined. You set workouts into your schedule and make sure you get it done.

You don’t want to say “I tried”, you want to say “I did”.

Mindfulness exercise: Say I do the next time. Commit to life.

Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose — Yoda

It’s only human to seek comfort and security. And where do we find this security? In the familiarity. Things we already know and have, things we are already comfortable with.

Preferring things we know over the unknown makes us afraid to take chances in life. And when you let your fear of the unknown rule you, you’ll miss out on the opportunities life could reveal to you.

You’ll miss job opportunities because you are scared the employer might turn you down.

You’ll miss out on fun parties because you are afraid you might be awkward.

You’ll miss out on interesting encounters because you fear that you might not adjust to them.

Mindfulness exercise: Be mindful of such situations so you’re in charge of your emotions and thoughts. Learn to trust in life, and let go. This meditation practiceshould help.

You must unlearn what you have learned
-Yoda

When Luke Skywalker’s spaceship laid sunken in the middle of a swamp lake, he was adamant that he could not lift it out of the lake because it was too heavy.

“Master, moving stones around is one thing… this is totally different!” Luke snivels in exasperation.

Yoda explains that it is no different.

“No. No different. Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.”

We all go through life with existing misconceptions and habits that have been nurtured since we were little.

And that affects our perceptions in the now.

We think that egg yolks are evil because of that one report we read in the papers 10 years ago. We believe we’re experts in foreign culture because of the summer vacations we’ve taken abroad. We cling onto our existing faulty beliefs and find reasons to argue with alternative points of view.

The thing is, the world is constantly changing and knowledge and science is constantly advancing. What’s set in stone today could be refuted tomorrow by new discoveries.

If you constantly let your mind and existing beliefs shroud your perception of the world, you’ll never be able to process and understand new information as well as someone who has an open mind.

We need to unlearn what we have learned, so our minds can explore the world anew. This opens us up to new discoveries and possibilities, where the world is once again filled with wonder.

Mindfulness exercise: Pretend you’re a kid, looking at the world for the first time. What would you see, think, feel, hear, and most importantly, learn?

Feel the Force!
- Yoda

The Universe of Star Wars revolves around the Force. Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Force as “an energy field created by all living things”.

If you’re sensitive to the Force, you can use its powers to sense impending attacks, push and lift physical objects, and influence the thoughts of others.

There is little difference between the Force in Star Wars and the Force in the real world. It exists within us, a deeper level of consciousness that heightens our awareness of the here and now.

Mindfulness exercise: The cool thing is that we can use mindfulness meditation to tap into the real world Force. Here’s your Jedi training manual.

You will know when you are calm. At peace. Passive.
- Yoda

Most of us are constantly on the hunt for the meaning of life, actively seeking happiness and running from what we perceive as evil and bad.

However, more often than not, all this effort puts us in harm’s way in the form of stress, disappointment and fear.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda warns Luke about the other side of the Force.

“Beware of the dark side. Anger. Fear. Aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.”

Luke then asks how he could differentiate between the good side from the bad.

And Yoda goes, “You will know, when you are calm. At peace. Passive.”

This search for happiness and peace outside ourselves leads to a fleeting bout of joy, but nothing more.

The excitement of owning something new always wears off, the long-awaited vacation always comes to an end way too soon, and that new job in an exciting environment eventually gets monotonous again.

In that sense we are letting the dark side rule our thoughts. We let our life be governed by material goods and surface pleasures that do nothing for our inner happiness.

Yoda believes that only by being calm, at peace and passive can one know the dark side from the good, happiness from sadness. If you cultivate inner peace, you gain happiness as a side effect. This also shuts the door to the dark side.

Mindfulness exercise: Meditation is a great way to calm the mind down and find clarity in life. Below is a 10-min guided mindfulness meditation video that will lead you from stress to rest.

Clear your mind must be, if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot.
- Yoda

Regardless of what I’m doing, there’s always 101 thoughts racing through my mind, marring my experience of the now.

If I’m at work, instead of focusing on my project at the moment, I find my mind planning, analyzing and imagining all sorts of scenarios, which take me from working methodically to working frenetically, my thoughts all over the place.

To gain control, you need to clear your mind. And contrary to popular belief, clearing your mind doesn’t mean going blank. You can get a clear mind simply by focusing on one thing at a time.

Mindfulness exercise: The next time you catch your mind wandering, draw your focus to your breath and count them for two minutes. This helps you get fully in the moment and focus your energy on one thing only.

Since I am on a roll, I’ll include a bonus quote. This is not by Yoda, but Obi Wan Kenobi, who is just as wise.

Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.
- Obi Wan Kenobi

We get so caught up in our own versions of the truth that we let it affect our everything.

In daily life, you can see this manifesting in the form of cliques, bullying, and discrimination. Take it up a notch and you’ll get full blown racial and religious wars, terrorism, and other negatives we’d rather not have in life.

The thing is, your truth is not someone else’s truth.

To a squirrel, a tree is its source of food and refuge, while to us, it is something we could chop up and throw into a fireplace for warmt.

Our truth is not the squirrel’s truth.

It is the same with many things in life. What’s right for you might not be right for your friend, and we need to get over ourselves and our self-important point of views in order to see that.

Mindfulness exercise: The next time you are in a conversation, focus not on expressing your opinion and beliefs. Instead, pay full attention to what your friend is saying and try to see it from their shoes. Who knows, you might learn something new.

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Originally published at blog.zparkl.com on June 26, 2016.