Technalink will always support anyone who decides to cultivate a greater sense of mindfulness in their lives. However, some people may inadvertently seek the state of mindfulness in ways that aren’t appropriate to their frame of mind, tending to believe that this is a process of emptying their mind and being a blank slate.
While there is some merit to the idea of not fixating on specific thoughts, mindfulness is not about emptying your mind of all thought and being a vessel for the universe to pour its energies into. In fact, mindfulness is not about controlling your thoughts at all, but rather being aware of and directing your focus.
Thinking Is Natural
It is an integral part of human nature to think, and in fact, this is one of our greatest strengths, so it’s essentially impossible for people to stop thinking. That is not—and never has been—the goal of mindfulness. Mindfulness is more about being conscious of your immediacy, your presence, rather than “sitting” or “being” in your thoughts; you are in your immediate surroundings, aware of yourself and your presence and the world around you.
This is almost entirely a matter of consciously directing your focus, rather than allowing external forces to distract your focus from where you want it to be. For the vast majority of people, this is a capability we all have and easily bring into action whenever it is required, even if we aren’t always aware that we are doing it.
We Choose What We Pay Attention To
While most people don’t realize it, every day, to some degree, we are constantly exercising our ability to choose what we want to focus on and think about. One of the most common examples is people who drive cars. You might have been thinking about work or the next meal you were going to prepare later in the day until you realized you were in a school zone, and it’s after school, with children crossing the street and boarding buses. At that point, you are now more focused on keeping an eye on the children around you than you are on thinking about work or meal preparation.
Another example is simply taking a walk. Our five senses never stop working, so when we take a walk, we are still receiving inputs from things we see, hear, feel under our feet, smell in the air, or even taste if we brought a snack. And all of these sensory inputs are happening simultaneously. However, we are choosing which inputs to pay attention to at any given time. We don’t normally process all five senses simultaneously, on top of what we are thinking about. So whether people realize it or not, the vast majority of the time, you are in the process of making a choice about what you will focus your attention on. When you decide to eat a meal, you tend to be aware of the flavor, texture, and maybe temperature of the food. You are not paying attention to how warm your feet feel in your shoes.
Think About Thinking
The best way to nurture your sense of mindfulness is to realize that things come in and out of your mind all the time, and to view this as a natural process you merely observe. It’s similar to sitting by a river, watching leaves and other detritus pass by in the current. You may focus on a leaf, but ultimately, you can choose to look at another item in the river. Similarly, you may have a thought, but you can also choose to let it flow past. Sometimes meditation accessories like tiger’s eye prayer stones can be helpful in providing a tool that gives you an object to focus on.
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