Discerning The Light Of Mindfulness
To understand the essence of mindfulness, we will start with a small exercise. Just pause at whatever you are doing and consider what is in your mind. Is it a rumination about a meeting you have tomorrow? Or a pitch you want to win? Or it may be a sense of irritation with an interaction you had yesterday, or last month, or even last year! Alternatively, you may be smiling remembering the fabulous holiday you had last month. I typically find thoughts around pending matters circulating in the mind.
Understanding Mindfulness
What does this pattern tell us about our minds? It indicates that we are generally in the past or the future, but seldom in the present. We lose sight of the fact that the past is gone, and the future is yet to arrive. Yet, we often find our minds running in those directions and dwelling there. Mindfulness is the ability to stay with the present moment rather than with the past or the future.
But what is the present moment about? At the least, it involves a task one is working on in the present. It could be writing this article, completing a report, or cooking a dish. Scratch the surface though, and we find that during an hour of writing, we checked our phone notifications several times. Our minds even went to the show we intend to watch once we are done with the writing. In a way, these distractions affected the quality of our writing, and we wondered after the hour why we could not write as much as expected. Therefore mindfulness is certainly about concentrating fully on the task at hand. But is there more to it?
Although concentration contributes to mindfulness, it is not everything. Let us extend our example by assuming that we succeeded in negotiating an hour of writing without distractions. Yet as we wrote, we thought of why we were writing- perhaps to publish, to become recognized as writers, or to share experiences. Then the thought arose- what if my writing gets trolled, or it does not get enough views. Therefore, even as we wrote with concentration, our motivations to write, and our fears came along with it. We did not however notice these feelings, and therefore neither their impact.
Similar examples can be found in many of our daily activities, be it our drive to work, cooking a meal, or even a walk from one room to another. We would find that we are rarely focused on what we are doing, but actually thinking about a past or a future aspect, often without our conscious awareness. We are therefore in a continually busy state of mind, although the busyness may not contribute to what the present moment requires.
Why is the present moment important, deserving our undivided focus? Undoubtedly, focusing on the present moment and the task at hand will help achieve a good result. Yet, the role of mindfulness with the present moment extends beyond the successful completion of tasks and objectives.
Mindfulness is the first step towards insight- knowing reality as it is, unclouded by regrets and guilt from the past, nor greed and anxiety about the future. The Buddha’s teachings help us understand this better. Knowing the reality of the present moment is important because it becomes the cause of the next moment. The Buddha’s teaching of dependent origination provides the insight that nothing exists in isolation. The thought and action in one moment become the cause of the effect which is the next moment, and so on. Once we understand this, it becomes easy for us to appreciate how our lives unfold from moment to moment.
The process of knowing the reality of the present moment involves separating the moment from the emotion. Achieving this allows us to approach the present with equanimity. i.e. non-reactive awareness, free from agendas, simply present with whatever arises.
As an illustration, let us take the case of a corporate executive who has just had a difficult annual evaluation with her boss. She believes she has worked very hard through the year, and she is therefore naturally disappointed and even resentful towards the boss. Furthermore, she may feel envious of the colleagues who have seemingly got a better deal. All of these are emotions that would cloud her understanding of the present moment and influence her approach. Mindfulness would involve, first, acknowledging the emotions that have arisen, and then recognizing the reality of the moment, which is that the annual evaluation is not what was expected. If the boss has failed to appreciate the efforts that went in, a follow-on discussion, accompanied by a modified approach to responsibilities and interactions in the future may be necessary. Therefore, mindfulness is not about ignoring or suppressing the emotions that have arisen; rather, they, along with the situation are part of the reality of the present moment.
Mindfulness involves embracing and taking care of the emotion on one hand and recognizing the pure reality of the situation on the other. In doing so, mindfulness helps ensure that we interact with individual situations and our environment the way they are, without judgment, preferences, and prejudices. It helps us in dealing with the present situation effectively and in shaping the next one meaningfully.
A related benefit of mindfulness is that it leads to enhancing our self-awareness. Knowing the self is the first step towards knowing and relating to the world with pragmatism, empathy, and compassion. Self-awareness is in fact, a key contributor to self-compassion as well. As the Buddha said, to love others, one must first learn to love oneself and be kind to oneself.
Developing Mindfulness
Having broadly discussed the essence of mindfulness, how do we go about developing it in ourselves? In the Buddha’s Satipatthana Sutta, we are guided to use breathing as a channel, for meditation that helps train the mind to firmly establish it in a frame of reference, be it the body, feelings, mind, or mental qualities. This can be an effective tool to understand and develop mindfulness. Apart from such meditation techniques, pausing to breathe mindfully at regular intervals can be a great way to rein in our mind and not let it overpower us with thoughts and emotions.
Additionally, Zen-master Thich Nhat Hahn provides guidance that when we make mindfulness our goal, we can attain it by mindfully carrying out every activity, no matter how simple or routine. For example, rather than gulping down the morning coffee or tea accompanied by the morning news, each sip can be experienced for its taste, aroma, and the realization of how each ingredient is interconnected with the earth and the elements of water, air, space, and fire. Similarly, when enjoying an orange, each peel and drop of juice must be experienced and appreciated for the forces of nature that have collaborated to bring it to us in its present form. The calm and gratitude that would arise as a result would pervade through the mind and the mind’s interplay with the world.
A disciplined practice of meditation, recognizing the emergence of self-awareness and gratitude will help us in gradually developing an approach of mindfulness and a life with equanimity, happiness, and personal evolution.
Conclusion
Through this introduction to mindfulness, we can begin to gauge how our minds relate to situations, the past, the future, and the present. All of these in turn shape our lives. Mindfulness is a gift that nature has bestowed on us as the light that we can shine to dispel the mind’s delusion. We simply have to discover and practice it, to spread its glow for enriching our lives and those around us.
