Our minds are endlessly creative, restless, impetuous and incessantly jumping from one idea to another; clutching and grasping, inventing one scenario after another – in short – our minds are undisciplined.
The practice of mindfulness meditation creates awareness and cultivates inner calm, peace and a quiet resilience. Mindfulness meditation is a practice, an approach which enables us to become aware of and explore our internal reality – the nature of our subjective experiences
Meditation is a mental discipline.
When you meditate, you discipline your mind by directing your attention. When you begin meditating, you will very quickly become aware of your habits of thought – how irrelevant thoughts bully their way into your consciousness obscuring your focus. You want to be able to quiet your mind and yet your undisciplined and tempestuous mind dances whirligigs around your desire for peace and serenity.
Your creative mind creates images, thought blips and bodily sensations making it seem impossible and frustrating, at first, to still the mind.
As with everything, regular mindfulness meditation practice builds new muscles that give you strength, flexibility and confidence. Every new practice begins with the intention and commitment to do so. Begin slowly, by sitting quietly, observing the pattern of your breath for 5 minutes at the same time each day. One day, it will be as if “you’ve arrived” for you will feel a pervading stillness and with it an emerging sense of appreciation for just Being. In this state of Beingness you realize that “awareness is the greatest agent of choice.”
Cultivating awareness through mindfulness practice helps you build a healthy relationship with yourself, enhances your ability to manage stress and navigate challenges in their external reality at home and at work.
You will find new strength as you learn to center your consciousness in the moment. Aware of your feelings and an emerging sense of deep inner peace, you will find yourself thinking more clearly and be able to direct your attention and make better choices.
The more you practice, the deeper and more profound your practice.
The mental calm you experience creates an inner space – a sacred hearth where you feel more authentically you. It’s from within this inner sacred space, once well established, that you, as mindful authentic leader will create yourself by the moment to moment choices you make.
Meditation is not for the faint-hearted, nor for those who routinely avoid the whispered longings of their own hearts. It is for individuals interested in the adventure and challenges of self-exploration and transformation, for those who wish to taste and explore new ways of knowing and new ways of being – not someone else’s, but one’s own moment-to-moment experience.
Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli
About Julia von Flotow
