Mindfulness means the awareness what we do, think or act. It is the perceptual knowledge of the reality. Mindfulness is one of the key concepts in the teachings of Buddha and is the seventh of the noble eightfold path to attain wisdom.
Mindfulness meditation is also known as insight because the intention is to gain insight as to the true nature of reality. While concentration involves the practitioner focusing their attention on a single object, in mindfulness meditation practice, every aspect of experience is welcomed and appreciated.
In other words, mindfulness is an activity that can be done at any time; it does not require sitting, or even focusing on the breath, but rather is done by bringing the mind to focus on what is happening in the present moment, while simply noticing the mind’s usual “commentary”. One can be mindful of the sensations in one’s feet while walking, of the sound of the wind in the trees, or the feeling of soapy water while doing dishes.
Whatever is used as the object for the attention, the aim is to keep the mind focused as often as you remember to do so. As the mind starts to wander, we simply direct the mind back toward the object of attention with a sense of “friendliness.â€
No matter what kind of thought comes up, you should say to yourself, “That may be a really important issue in my life, but right now is not the time to think about it. Now I’m practicing meditation.†It gets down to how honest we are, how true we can be to ourselves, during each session.
Each meditation session is a journey of discovery to understand the basic truth of who we are. In the beginning the most important lesson of meditation is seeing the speed of the mind. But the meditation tradition says that mind doesn’t have to be this way: it just hasn’t been worked with.
