What is Mindfulness?

Do you often judge yourself?

Have you noticed that you have a lot of internalized judgment? Are you always really hard on yourself?

When you notice something (thought, sensation, external observations) and immediately start to decide if it is good or bad you have already stopped attending to the thing that you noticed. Often this inattention, this disconnection, this movement into a judging state is the root of our experiences of distress, dysregulation, and experience of anxiety. 

Do you have a wandering mind?

Or maybe you find yourself noticing something and then 10 minutes later you are worrying over something totally unrelated. Are you constantly tumbling stories and scenarios around in your head to the exclusion of other things?

When you notice something and then start thinking about another thing and then another and then another (or reexamining the thing over and over and over again) you have stopped attending to the current moment. This elaboration or storytelling is also often connected to our experiences of distress, nervous system dysregulation, and experience of anxiety. 

Practice being different.

The practice of noticing without judgment or elaboration - mindfulness - is one of the foundational skills for you to develop if you want to shift the way you experience the world. 

A place to start this practice is to notice when you are judging. Can you notice this judgment and assign it a neutral label (not judging yourself for judging yourself)? Can you notice this judgment and assign a neutral label, and return your attention to the initial noticing with curiosity? What is happening currently? How has this noticing changed or shifted over time?

Start to pay attention to when you are storytelling - what is it like to note (without judgment) that you are elaborating or wandering and to return your attention to the sensation of your feet on the floor, or the way the breeze feels on your face or the sensation of the breath? 

Remember this is a practice - not a perfect. 

If you are struggling with this practice or you want more depth, consider an intro call with me. Mindfulness is the first skill to learn before you start to practice more complex things like HRV biofeedback or as you divest from capitalism and other systems of harm. 

Or start with this guided meditation here on noticing sensation.