A way of living which was very natural for people 40 years back is being strived for now .It seems so far fetched that there are courses and techniques developed to teach people ‘mindful living’.
On the Buddhist path, it functions in three ways: remembering to stay alert to what you’re doing in the present moment; remembering to recognize the skilful and unskilful qualities that arise in the mind; and remembering how to effectively abandon the qualities that get in the way of concentration, then developing the skilful ones that promote it.
What one needs to do is just start with the first step of learning which is to be in the present moment. Our unmindful mind is like a fish under stress who doesn’t want to stay still and has such swift movements that before you can observe it in one spot it has already moved on to the other. So where should a person who has the will to attain mindfulness begin from? The key lies in the previous sentence. Did you get it ?
Yes, the starting point is to have a strong will to develop mindfulness. Why do I say strong ? Remember the power of mind !! Even if you are not mindful , the mind still has a power which is being used for the not so meaningful tasks.
If the same mind becomes mindful, imagine the potential with which the body will be able to achieve all that is possible within limits bounded by the nature. Mindfulness is a tool with which one can attain one’s destiny with happiness.
After you attain the strong will , you can begin your journey of learning mindfulness by spending some moments each day focusing on one thing that is a constant and rhythmic in nature . That is your breathing . Learn to observe how your are breathing .
Even in moments of stress ,you can take a moment off and focus on your breath. The working of the mind gets controlled by our breath or vice versa.
To start with, sit comfortably with your spine erect and eyes closed and begin focussing on your breath.
- Observe as to whether you are breathing fast or slow.
- Observe the types of thoughts that you are getting as you are breathing.
- Start breathing deeply from your belly rather than your chest. Exhale completely ,till you can exhale no further.
- Repeat this for 5-7 counts.
- Now observe as to what thoughts you are getting .
- Even if your are able to sit for 2 minutes in this process initially ,it is a good achievement.
- Do this daily , so that you can develop this as a habit and it becomes your second nature.