The benefits of being mindful stretch beyond the metrics we typically associate with healthy living. I feel strongly that mindfulness is one key to a meaningful and productive life as well as good mental and physical health. In this post, I aim to describe what mindfulness is to me and how it’s been defined by others, and touch upon how it can be implemented if you find it compelling.

A problem that one faces quickly when discussing meditation with colleagues, patients or friends is the notion that meditating involves sitting for hours, chanting with eyes closed into a silent room. Many people associate meditation practice with something that seems so foreign to normal daily life that it’s difficult to discuss seriously with someone who is not already interested. In truth, mindfulness practice doesn’t require that any time be set aside and devoted to routines or sequenced activities; it only requires that you reflect on what you’re already doing. Mindfulness is the quality of attending to the present fully and completely. The purpose of mindfulness practice is not simply to improve performance of the present task, although this is a likely result, but to reside within the present moment and experience the life that we’re already living.

More and more frequently we rush through our days and weeks and rob ourselves of joy and fulfillment. We look forward in the morning to the end of the work day. On Monday, we think of the weekend. We go through entire days from start to finish occupied by one thing or another, without pausing to reflect. We trade every opportunity to examine our own thoughts for screens of various sizes. The way that we rush from one thing to the next in an age where media is designed to bombard us at every corner feels like an emotional analog to the obesity epidemic.

As as group we demand fast, easy solutions that provide temporary enjoyment without having to consider things from a more wholesome perspective. We’re willing to watch excruciatingly pointless TV shows for hours because they offer a reprieve from the fast-paced days which we have created, yet we tell ourselves that there simply isn’t time to pause and reflect for 15 minutes. To step back and observe this process, objectively and without bias, is to be mindful of the way that things are.

Mindfulness means paying attention “in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally,” to paraphrase Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the UMass Medical Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. To be mindful, we need to step back as though we are observers of our own lives. We need to reflect on our thoughts and our choices carefully but freely. We need to focus on the present without looking to the future or drifting towards the past. As our lives are increasingly filled with distraction, our aversion to careful reflection of the present becomes stronger. Too often we believe we’re working towards financial success, and that only after we’ve attained this will we be able to pause and enjoy life fully. In doing so we are missing an enormous part of the experience that we all share. To pause and reflect is to find calm. To devote ourselves fully to the present moment is to approach life with vigor and purpose. We avoid a serene and still lake amidst a tumultous and uncomfortable environment because the idea of pausing to reflect has become so foreign.

Often, the answers to many of our problems are known to us, and require only that we take the time to listen to our own thoughts, drowned out by so many distractions. If we are balancing on a beam, we are focused, we consider sensitively the feedback that our bodies provide, and we react to it as we see appropriate. If we are eating dinner while watching television, we ignore feedback from our body. Our enjoyment of the meal is diminished because we don’t allow ourselves to stop and consider the flavors and other qualities of the food. If we’re spending time with a patient while at the same time allowing some of our mental capacity to wander, perhaps thinking about the schedule for the rest of the day or any number of other distractions, then our interactions with that patient will suffer. If we anchor our thoughts on the present moment and dedicate our abilities to hearing and understanding the patient and offer the best iteration of our skills possible, then we provide great care and experience the moment fully.

To implement mindfulness into our lives, we should reduce distractions. We should focus squarely on the present moment. If our minds wander, we shouldn’t fight them. We observe that our attention has drifted, and return to the present. We should devote ourselves to one task at a time, performing each to the best of our ability. We should pause every day and allow our minds to stop racing, to reflect on the thoughts we suppress with distraction. If we can observe freely and honestly the reasons that we choose mindless distractions over constructive introspection, then we will better understand how we feel about the way our time is spent.

Although an abstract concept strongly contrasting to the Western medical model, mindfulness training is a tool that I feel will ultimately become widespread because of growing resentment towards polypharmacy. Relative to their cost, I don’t think the benefits of this practice can be overstated.