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What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of living in the present moment. It
is the art of engaging reality on a moment-to-moment basis. While fully engaged in whatever we are presently
doing, we attune our minds to what is happening right here,
right now. We watch our thoughts and emotions come and
go, but we do not cling to them. Our primary focus is to
maintain a calm, attentive, nonjudgmental state of
heightened awareness.
We may think that we are already mindful of our life
experiences, but this is just another trick fabricated by
our minds to keep us in a dream state. Our minds have an
uncanny ability to weave fleeting sensations, memories,
thoughts, emotions into a coherent story that reinforces our
false sense of a permanent, unchanging ego. We cling to our
ego at all costs, even at the expense of seeing things as
they really are.
Mindfulness is the art of transcending the
mind with the mind. By this we mean freeing the mind from
its habitual attachment to thoughts, feelings, and other
mental phenomena. Through mindfulness we wake up to the here
and now, to reality as it is unfolding, and we gradually
awaken from the dream (or nightmare) in which we have lived
most of our lives.
Mindfulness offers us a way to
perceive reality in a more direct, intimate manner. Through
mindfulness, our life experiences become richer and fuller.
We learn to see more clearly, listen more attentively, taste
more acutely, smell more discerningly, and touch more
fully. The calm, expanded awareness that builds up
over time illuminates every aspect of our conscious
experience and awakens us to our True Essence. Every moment in
life becomes immensely sacred, and ordinary daily activities
take on a spiritual dimension.
This site is dedicated to the
study and
practice of mindfulness. I have developed it as an online
companion for my upcoming book, Mindfulness: The Art of
Living, but it also serves as a stand-alone resource to
introduce
mindfulness to those interested in taking up the practice
and to offer support and inspiration for those already
practicing.
It contains excerpts and
adaptations from the book as well as other useful material not
presentable in a book format.
As you may have noticed, this site is still in the initial stages of
development. I will continually post new material as my
schedule permits. Be sure to check back often for more
content.
Please e-mail me
with with any comments or suggestions.
NAVIGATION:
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Excerpts from
Mindfulness: The
Art of Living
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Articles on Mindfulness
(from various sources on the web)
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Books on Mindfulness
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Related Sites
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Discussion Forum
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