Mindfulness is an intentional awareness of one’s self and one’s environment in the present moment that is cultivated by the practice of withholding judgement of one’s thought.
Kabat-Zinn believes that “inhabiting the full dimensionality of our being,” is the inner resource all humans possess and must utilize to reach their full potential (FCL xxvii). Mindfulness is tuning into this full dimensionality, yet at the same time focusing in on one thing specifically, that thing being whatever may be occurring in the present time. This ‘object of awareness’ may shift from practice to practice, or within a practice, and can be almost anything: the breath, noise, sensations on the skin, emotions, or even thoughts. Often the details chosen to practice
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According to Kabat-Zinn, “paying attention is something everybody does, at least occasionally,” and “meditation is really about paying attention” (FCL 7-8).
“Mindfulness is a skill that can be developed through practice” (FCL xxxiii).
In my practices, suppressing judgment is the most difficult part of meditation. “Our thoughts are so overpowering,... that they easily cloud our awareness of the present” (FCL 8). Non judgment means letting go of opinions, thoughts: having the ability to corral a wandering mind, not to entirely stop our minds from wandering. According to research conducted by Matthew Killingsworth, “people’s minds wander nearly half the time... [which] appears to contribute to people being less happy” (FCL xxxiii). That being proved, our minds are meant to wander; there is no way to completely halt the brain in order to meditate, though “mindfulness is a skill that can be developed through practice” (FCL xxxiii). This is where non judgment comes in, when you find yourself becoming distracted and your thoughts going elsewhere, mindfulness asks that you be gentle with yourself in redirecting your thoughts back to the object of awareness. “We practice mindfulness as best we can- and that means with considerable kindness towards ourselves” (FCL