Use This One Word to Anchor Your Mindfulness Practice

Notice

Photo by mosi knife on Unsplash

Most spiritual seekers experience this scenario on a regular basis: Something knocks them off kilter then they immediately scour their mindful quivers for the best “arrow” to handle the situation. “Don’t resist.” “Stay in the moment.” “Be present.” “Surrender.” “Let go.”

This usually results in feeling overwhelmed with options, which results in a throwing up of hands in frustration.

But I’ve found there is one “go-to” word that mindfulness practitioners can rely on to handle ANY situation. That word is notice.

MBSR and Jon Kabat-Zinn

Why? I’ll get to that. But first, I want to relate the anecdote that prompted this piece. Four years ago I took the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. Developed by famed mindfulness pioneer Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, MBSR is an eight week course that focuses on meditation and mindfulness.

My class was taught by the prominent teacher, Christiane Wolf, a doctor from Germany who also trains instructors in MBSR all over the world. A large part of the course involved Q&A with Dr. Wolf.

Students asked a whole range of questions like “What if my mind just won’t shut up when I meditate?” And “I’m finding I’m…