Personal Reflection

I was first introduced to mindfulness by the instructor of my personality psychology class. As a practicing psychologist and a rather spiritual person, she was a strong advocate of positive psychology. Within positive psychology, she frequently discussed a concept called mindfulness which I found particularly interesting.  The instructor described mindfulness as living in the present through a moment-by-moment basis through awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts, emotions, feelings, and the surrounding environment, defined by the observation, acceptance, and lack of judgment of all of these things.  She would demonstrate this concept by leading the students through a form of guided meditation before almost every class. She instructed us to close our eyes, get into a comfortable position and correct posture, and release our minds of any preoccupying thoughts. She would then encourage us to focus our attentions on the sensations of our bodies; the steady rhythm of our breathing; the feelings of the clothes contacting our skin; the particular smell of the air; the sensations beneath our fingertips, the beating of our hearts, etc.  The point was to make us aware of and receptive to all of the things around and within us and to just experience, observe, and accept, while also embracing the connection between body and mind. We would remain in this meditative state for 15 minutes or so, and then she would gradually bring the session to a close in which we would resume with the lesson of the day.

I always looked forward to these encounters with mindfulness.  Ever since I was young, I had always been conscious of the existence of some sort of deeper awareness of the things around us and I always wanted to find and have that awareness. With my introduction to mindfulness, I was now able to give a name to something I have always tried to put a finger on, and this makes the path to reaching a higher consciousness, spiritual and moral enlightenment, or whatever it may be, a bit clearer. However, I was not fully satisfied with just experiencing a 15 minute, mindful mental state for two times a week. Instead, I wanted to consciously apply its set of techniques and skills to my everyday life and hopefully become a better human being. As a result, I have decided to take on the week of living mindfully.

Guidelines of this Week:

1.)    Do not be preoccupied with the past or the future; focus only on the present

2.)    Be aware of and accept emotions experienced

3.)    Accept things without judgments

4.)    Stay aware of surrounding environments and bodily sensations