What does mindfulness mean?
Mindfulness, in its essence, is “to pay attention fully without judgment.” This sounds simple in theory, but in any workshop that I have led, or with individual clients, when I ask people to practice mindfulness on their breath, they quickly realize just how difficult this is. The nature of our mind is to be busy, active, full of commentary, judgment, interpretation. In meditation circles, this is called “monkey mind,” since like a monkey, our mind likes to jump everywhere. While we are trying to focus, it has run off to plan our trip to the supermarket, remember phone calls we have to make or hurtful comments. Five minutes can pass before we realize that we are not focused on our breath! Mindfulness is drawn from the Eightfold Path in Buddhist Psychology. Buddhist Psychology as a whole offers us ways of living in peace and harmony with ourselves and our worlds, ways to develop a greater sense of compassion for ourselves and others. The Buddha developed the Four Noble Truths, and the E