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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Serie: In A Day For Dummies
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
Discover how mindfulness can help you take care of yourself - and others! Become More Mindful In a Day provides a practical introduction to mindfulness, and the benefits of a mindful approach to life. Designed to contain a day's reading, this handy guide explains what mindfulness is, how to begin practising mindful meditation, and explores a number of ways mindfulness can help you achieve a happier state of mind. Open the book and find: * An introduction to the basics of mindfulness meditation * The difference between 'formal' and 'informal' meditation * Several examples of mindful meditation, including the body scan meditation and sitting meditation * How mindfulness can help in relationships * Tips for exercising mindfully
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Become More Mindful In A Day For Dummies®
Table of Contents
Become More Mindful In A Day For Dummies®
by Shamash Alidina
Become More Mindful In A Day For Dummies®
Published by John Wiley & Sons, LtdThe Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ England www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected], or faxed to (44) 1243 770620.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-118-38049-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-38048-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-38047-5 (ebk)
Introduction
When I was about eight years old, I discovered an amazing fact – I’m actually alive, on this planet, in this universe! And so is everyone else. The fact that there’s a universe at all is amazing, but that I’m in it too . . . that was mind blowing. I started going round telling everyone, but they didn’t share my excitement. I saw adults mechanically going to work and doing the shopping, and friends playing games, but I was conscious of an incredible sense of existence happening that they weren’t able to share.
As I grew up, I began to lose my grip on this sense of wonder until I stumbled upon mindfulness and a range of philosophies. I was relieved to find others who’d contemplated similar questions to me, and to learn a way of managing my stress at the same time.
In this book you can discover how to re-ignite your perception of this mystery called life, so you aren’t just existing to complete to-do lists, but are actually living. You’ll discover how to begin practising mindfulness, so you can integrate a new way of being into your everyday life.
If you wish to get in touch with me for feedback, consultation or anything else, email [email protected] – I’d love to hear from you!
What You Can Do in a Day
As part of the In A Day For Dummies series, I designed this book to contain about a day’s reading (or a couple of days if you’re taking your time). I focused on introducing mindfulness exercises and meditations, and sharing some suggestions for the different ways that mindfulness can help you take care of yourself and others – all of which can be easily digested in a day. You should have enough information to be able to immediately become more mindful in your daily life.
Foolish Assumptions
In writing this book, I made a few assumptions about who you are:
You’re keen to learn more about mindfulness, but don’t know exactly what it is, and how to practise it.
You are willing to have a good go at trying out the various mindfulness exercises before judging if they’ll work for you.
You’re not afraid of a bit of mindfulness meditation.
Beyond those, I’ve not assumed too much, I hope. This book is for you whether you’re male or female, 18 or 88.
Icons Used in This Book
Sprinkled throughout the book you’ll see various icons to guide you on your way. Icons are a For Dummies way of drawing your attention to important stuff, interesting stuff and stuff you really need to know how to do.
This is stuff you need to know: whatever else you carry away from this book, note these bits with care.
Have a go at different mindfulness exercises and tips with this icon.
Find some precious pearls of wisdom and meaningful stories next to this icon.
This icon marks some of the audio meditation tracks that you can find at the book’s companion website at www.dummies.com/go/inaday/becomemoremindful.
Chapter 1
Discovering Mindfulness
In This Chapter
Defining mindfulness
Discovering the benefits of mindfulness
Exploring the journey of mindfulness
Mindfulness means paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, with qualities like compassion, curiosity and acceptance.
Through being mindful, you discover how to live in the present moment in an enjoyable way rather than worrying about the past or being concerned about the future. The past has already gone and can’t be changed. The future is yet to arrive and is completely unknown. The present moment, this very moment now, is ultimately the only moment you have. Mindfulness shows you how to live in this moment in a harmonious way. You find out how to make the present moment a more wonderful moment to be in – the only place you can create, decide, listen, think, smile, act or live.
You can develop and deepen mindfulness through doing mindfulness meditation on a daily basis, from a few minutes to as long as you want. This chapter introduces you to mindfulness and mindfulness meditation and welcomes you aboard a fascinating journey.
Understanding the Meaning of Mindfulness
Mindfulness was originally developed in ancient times, and can be found in Eastern and Western cultures. Mindfulness is a translation of the ancient Indian word Sati that means awareness, attention and remembering:
Awareness. This is an aspect of being human that makes you conscious of your experiences. Without awareness, nothing would exist for you.
Attention. Attention is a focused awareness; mindfulness training develops your ability to move and sustain your attention wherever and however you choose.
Remembering. This aspect of mindfulness is about remembering to pay attention to your experience from moment to moment. Being mindful is easy to forget. The word remember originally comes from the Latin re ‘again’ and memorari ‘be mindful of’.
Say that you want to practise mindfulness to help you cope with stress. At work, you think about your forthcoming presentation and begin to feel stressed and nervous. By becoming aware of this, you remember to focus your mindful attention to your own breathing rather than constantly worrying. Feeling your breath with a sense of warmth and gentleness helps slowly to calm you down. See Chapter 2 for more about mindful breathing.
Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, who first developed mindfulness in a therapeutic setting, says: ‘Mindfulness can be cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, that is, in the present moment, and as non-reactively, non-judgementally and openheartedly as possible’.
You can break down the meaning even further:
Paying attention. To be mindful, you need to pay attention, whatever you choose to attend to.
Present moment. The reality of being in the here and now means you just need to be aware of the way things are, as they are now. Your experience is valid and correct just as it is.
Non-reactively. Normally, when you experience something, you automatically react to that experience according to your past conditioning. For example, if you think, ‘I still haven’t finished my work’, you react with thoughts, words and actions in some shape or form. Mindfulness encourages you to respond to your experience rather than react to thoughts. A reaction is automatic and gives you no choice; a response is deliberate and considered action.
Non-judgementally. The temptation is to judge experience as good or bad, something you like or dislike. I want to feel bliss; I don’t like feeling afraid. Letting go of judgements helps you to see things as they are rather than through the filter of your personal judgements based on past conditioning.
Openheartedly. Mindfulness isn’t just an aspect of mind. Mindfulness is of the heart as well. To be open-hearted is to bring a quality of kindness, compassion, warmth and friendliness to your experience. For example, if you notice yourself thinking ‘I’m useless at meditation’, you discover how to let go of this critical thought and gently turn your attention back to the focus of your meditation, whatever that may be.
