What is Mindfulness? An Everyday Look At It

Mindfulness is something we hear about quite often these days. The term is either loosely interpreted or misunderstood. Some associate mindfulness in a negative light, in terms of detachment from reality and a “daily human life”, in order to attain a higher purpose, thus placing yourself on a godlike pedestal and looking down on human ants. Others look at it as a positive experience, an outside view, a dissociation so as to think clearly.

At a certain instance of time in any life led, we are told that there is no black or white, the world is only shades of gray. If asked, that’s the perspective to be obtained before entering the realm of mindfulness. It can be something beautiful and eye-opening, but as goes for all, too much of anything good, is bad. You can overdose on mindfulness. The best way to approach it would be “dissociate to associate”.

All this may be confusing, so let’s start at a basic. What is mindfulness in an everyday sense?

Well, Wikipedia defines mindfulness as :

Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training. The term “mindfulness” is a translation of the Pali-term sati, which is a significant element of some Buddhist traditions.

What I found to describe this upcoming phenomenon, both in the everyday world, as well as advanced psychotherapy, were these quotes :

“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.” – Alan Watts

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” – Marcus Aurelius

Now this isn’t a high school English lecture where we’re going to look deep into the authors’ mind for hours and hours and proceed to misinterpret every little word, accent, sound and piece of punctuation. In an honest look, these men called it for what it is.

Simply put, mindfulness is a process of meditation and a discipline to observe oneself. Like the concept of Lord Shiva’s third eye in Hinduism, it is a practice, so open a new outlet to observe more, but in the form of a speculative invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. Through rigorous trial and error, mastery through practice, it is the process of developing an instinct.

Why do I choose to use that word – ‘instinct’? Well, the end game, so to say, of the process is to be spatially conscious, spiritually aware (not necessarily in the religious sense, more of whatever floats your boat), calm and collected, and most importantly, and this cannot be stressed enough, to gain access to all the information inside you, around you, from different perspectives. It’s the art of taking the information lemons that life gives you, and juicing them soo hard, by hand, through, machine, cold press, you name it, to have that formula for the million dollars a glass lemonade.

Get the idea, it’s not the key to life, do not be mistaken. It’s more of a guideline, a process, that can possibly provide to you the skill and artfulness required to pick that safe, at that given moment, and with more work, at any given moment. Lock picking is truly an art form, and no one has mastered it over night.

It’s a personal life hack. An elucidated attempt to understanding the now and then. A process of synergy to a greater scheme of things.

Soon, we’ll take a look at how to get started on this intricate journey, this history of it’s being. How such a process helped Prince Siddhartha transcend mortal shackles to evolve to the being we know as Gautama Buddha. The process is foreseen in a bygone era and its rediscovery in this day and age.

For now :

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain



If you want to share your mindfulness tips with us, do comment here. Follow us on Soundcloud for free guided mindfulness sessions.

Additional Resources:

Interested in learning more about mindfulness or meditation in general? Here are a few posts to get you started: