Myth Busting Mindfulness and Meditation

Have you heard of mindfulness and meditation? Have you read or experienced any of their benefits? Is it time to understand more about mindfulness and meditation and how we can use them to change habits of letting unhelpful past memories or future worry run our lives? We have heard the word mindfulness bandied around everywhere, its easy for us to forget what it actually means.  It is also easy for us to take a relatively simple concept like mindfulness, and make it extremely complex. I have greatly appreciated what I have been fortunate to learn about mindfulness and meditation and hope it helps you to understand them a bit more too.  

Over the month, we have added a few tools to our tool kit.  These have included the A&B3 breaths practice and the ABCD to help us overcome unhelpful worry habits. Now its time to introduce mindfulness and meditation, very useful tools indeed to add to our tool box, to promote our happiness and peace of mind.
 
What is mindfulness? 

• Mindfulness is the new craze - everyone is talking about its benefits to our health and well being. There are many books and courses on it. It is being taught in the workplace and schools and is marketed as a powerful tool.  We have heard so much about mindfulness and heard the word over and over in many contexts.  This constant exposure to mindfulness can cause us to firstly, forget what the word actually means and secondly to take this relatively simple concept and make it extremely complex.  
• Mindfulness simply means to be aware or to remember - to remember to pay attention to what is happening here and now in the present.  It is being fully aware moment-to-moment of everything that is arising within and around you. Wow - I don't know about you, but that sounds tricky to do all the time. What I find doable is to try to be aware when I am distracted from what is happening now and bring my mind back, to respond in helpful ways.  
• Where do we go when we drift away from what is happening in the present? We drift into the past and future.  We go out of the present, thinking about what has already happened in the past or what the future may or may not bring, We are robbed of enjoying the present, when we are taken out of it by feelings and thoughts of worry about the future or resentment about the past.  It is not possible (or desirable) to stop thinking about the past and the future, but we can, through being aware or mindful, think about them in more helpful ways in the present.   
• Mindfulness, remembering or being aware, helps us understand the nature of our perceptions and the benefits in not attaching to them or rejecting them.  It allows us to instead be the nonjudgmental witness of them.   
• Mindfulness has its roots in the Indian spiritual traditions, including Buddhism

But lets keep it s simple and practical here, and start out to develop a simple mindfulness breath meditation practice - Mindfulness simply means to remember to be aware of what is happening.  To pay attention to what is going on.  
 
What is Meditation?

• Meditation means to pay attention or to concentrate.  To Habituate the mind to a set of thoughts. (much better for them to be helpful ways of thinking) 
• Meditation is a neutral skill - its value depends on what we are meditating on.  For example I can spend lots of time meditating on how angry I am at someone who hurt me, which of course is not a helpful object to meditate on.  Or alternately I can spend time meditating on forgiveness or gratitude which are very useful things to meditate on.  
• Meditation does not need to be associated with a particular religion or tradition 
• Meditation aims to habituate the mind to more helpful ways of thinking, we all have minds and every one of us can meditate in this way
• Meditation is a skill we can all develop.  In fact it is kill we already have.  As I said we are meditating when we can't stop thinking about how someone has hurt us or when we are totally focused on a movie.  
• The challenge for us with meditation is to learn to control what we are meditating on and habituate the mind to meditate on things that are useful and that will help us live more meaningful lives.  This takes practice and a regular meditation habit.  
• Meditation is a particularly important skill for us to develop in this computer/information bombardment era.  We are gradually becoming are of the disadvantages of this constant information bombardment on our concentration and peace of mind.  
• Awareness of some of the harmful effects of technology on our concentration, attention and peace of mind, has aroused interest in meditation as a survival skill.  Meditation can help us regain control of our minds and where we put our attention, rather than allow technology to be in control of where we direct our attention and scattering it.   

What Meditation and Mindfulness are NOT

• Selfish - One of the goals of meditation and mindfulness is to stop the obsession with our selves and to cultivate more altruism, therefore it is not selfish.  Meditation helps us to be the best we can for others. 
• Obsessing about ourselves - overthinking how we are feeling etc.  Meditation and mindfulness allows us time to develop helpful ways of thinking, which are about connecting to and benefiting others, not about worrying more about ourselves.  
• Trying to create a void - Meditation is not about creating a void by trying to block out thoughts
• Analysing the past and predicting the future - going over the past in unhelpful ways and worrying about the future are not helpful ways to meditate.  Meditation helps us to use memories and futuristic thought in helpful ways in the present. 
• Simply a process of relaxation - Meditation can be relaxing because it allows us to detach from the ego, however this is not the principal ai of meditation.
• A means of escaping reality - meditation aims to give us a clearer view or reality, not to escape it.
• Ethically good or bad - Meditation and mindfulness are ethically neutral skills.  They are neither good nor bad from their own side.  Their value depends o what we are meditating on or mindful of habituating the mind to.  The object we focus the mind on is intended to be virtuous, which helps develop positive human qualities.  Neuro-plasticity, the brains ability to evolve, allows the development of these new neural pathways or helpful ways of thinking, which are conducive to our happiness and the happiness of others.

Giving it a go.
There are many things we could discuss re meditation and mindfulness - benefits, ways to do it, setting up a practice, lifestyle considerations etc. We will go on to explore some of these during the November blogs.  
But, for now why don't you do these 2 simple things.

• Give the mindfulness breath meditation recorded here a go. I always start my meditation with this 8 minute - 'Here and Now Breath Meditation' meditation. I will talk more about this meditation in the coming weeks. Let me know how you go, or if you would like to know some more about establishing a meditation practice.   Or if you would like to join our Sunday mediation classes, in person or via Skype.  maree@pom-melbourne.com  
• Wake up GRATEFUL - Each morning when you wake, think about - meditate on - all the things that are going right in your life and be grateful for them.  We have amazing lives with so much going right, but often we forget to concentrate on that, and instead unhelpfully think about what is going wrong.  I have found this simple practice a life changing way to start my day.  

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Have a peaceful fun and happy week
Kind regards
Maree xx ​
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