This blog is about how to live a mindful life and why we should do so.
But what exactly does ‘living a mindful life’ mean?
To answer this let’s consider how we tend to live our lives at present:
- We’re always in a hurry. But this breeds stress which wreaks havoc with our mental and physical well-being.
- We cling to life’s ‘good’ parts. But this leads to disappointment and frustration because impermanence reigns supreme; everything eventually comes to an end. Resist this truth and needless suffering results.
- We try to flee life’s ‘bad’ parts. But this too leads to suffering because both the pleasant and unpleasant are intrinsic parts of life. Resist this reality and suffering follows.
- We try to avoid life’s ‘boring’ parts by spacing out or immersing ourselves in idle distractions. Given the preciousness of life, how tragic is it to willingly toss much of it away?
- We live mostly in an unconscious, instinct-driven, auto-pilot state. Two tragedies follow. First, we tend to react to life’s unpleasant moments unthinkingly and harshly, causing us and those around us needless harm. Second, we fail to note the many small joys of life that could otherwise nurture the sense of peace and contentment we all seek.
- We devote much of our thinking to regretting the past or stressing about the future. But this generates pointless mental anguish because the past can’t be changed and the future is unknowable.
- We tend to be judgmental, labeling everything we encounter as ‘good’, ‘bad’, or ‘indifferent’. In this manner we make our world very small, circumscribed by our biases and sorely-limited perspective.
- We’re happy when things go our way and unhappy when they don’t. But this just turns us into helpless victims whose contentment with life becomes contingent on factors outside our control.
- Thanks to our evolutionary inheritance we tend to be self-centred, selfish, judgmental, discontent, nepotistic, biased to negativity, and unthinkingly reactive.
“It’s said that after the Buddha’s enlightenment he was moved to teach by compassion because he saw all beings seeking happiness, wanting happiness, yet doing the very things that cause suffering.”
Joseph Goldstein, “Mindfulness – A Practice Guide to Awakening”
By way of contrast, living a mindful life looks something like this:
- We treat all parts of life – pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent – with complete equanimity. Such is the path to a peaceful life, one lived with a contented, calm ease of being.
- We realize fully that ‘good’, ‘bad’, or ‘indifferent’ are simply labels – just thoughts we’ve made up in our head and that, with a change of those thoughts, change our perception of life.
- We cease resisting reality – we cease resisting what already is. Instead, we just deal with each situation in a matter-of-fact, calm manner. Doing so eliminates much needless anguish and drama.
- We reside in the present moment, the only moment that is real, the only moment when life can actually be experienced. It is not an overstatement to say that focusing our attention and awareness on the present moment is one of the primary keys to happiness.
- We realize fully that happiness is a choice, one contingent not on external circumstances but on how we choose to think about those circumstances. Such is the pathway to freedom, contentment, and sound mental health.
- Cognizant of our base tendencies, we set a daily intention to embody generosity, patience, gratitude, compassion, and equanimity.
- We respond to life rather than react to it.
- We practice curiosity, purposely making it a point to regularly notice and appreciate life’s many small wonders.
“Even the first few moments of genuine mindfulness are a turning point in our lives, because we realize, perhaps for the first time, that the mind can be trained, can be understood, can be liberated. We get glimpses of something beyond our ordinary, conventional reality.”
Joseph Goldstein
If being mindful sounds like a better way to live a life, then welcome, you’ve come to the right spot! Let’s begin our mindful journey together!
Warmest wishes,
Rob @ Living a Mindful Life