Am I really mindful?

Post here if you are just starting out with your mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is a really difficult concept to get your head around at first, and it might be that you would benefit from some help from others.
Ich
Posts: 8
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Jan 2016

Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:12 pm  

This may seem like a strange question, but how do we know we are being mindful? I sometimes think I'm being mindful when in actuality I'm getting carried away even by breath itself. The sounds of my breathing or the movements of my belly turn into very subtle thoughts of language or images. I think I'm being mindful when in fact I'm not. I realize this whenever I really become mindful again. It is as if I can only be mindful for a few seconds before I get lost again.

My question is, how long do you guys feel (or know if you can know this) you're being mindful for? For me it is a few seconds of real mindfulness (probably about three or four seconds) followed by maybe a minute of "fake mindfulness" and then mindlessness where I get distracted by various thoughts forgetting the present moment completely.

It is true that after a while the latter doesn't occur that often anymore.

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Peter
Site Admin
Posts: 696
Practice Mindfulness Since: 19 Aug 2013
Location: The Netherlands

Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:53 pm  

Ich wrote:For me it is a few seconds of real mindfulness (probably about three or four seconds) followed by maybe a minute of "fake mindfulness" and then mindlessness where I get distracted by various thoughts forgetting the present moment completely.

It is true that after a while the latter doesn't occur that often anymore.

Do you mean while doing other things, or while practicing formally?
Peter

Ich
Posts: 8
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Jan 2016

Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:53 pm  

While practicing formally.

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Mon Apr 25, 2016 4:21 pm  

Try not to get wrapped up in concepts. That's just more thinking.
Watch the breath. Gently notice when your mind has wandered. Return to the breath.
It's so simple that we often miss it.
Cheers,
Jon
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

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Peter
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Posts: 696
Practice Mindfulness Since: 19 Aug 2013
Location: The Netherlands

Mon Apr 25, 2016 4:38 pm  

Ich wrote:how do we know we are being mindful?
If you are aware of whatever is 'happening' at that very moment.

Ich wrote:I sometimes think I'm being mindful
If you are aware, you know/feel that you are aware. Thinking really has nothing to do with it. If you don't know/feel it at that very moment, you weren't aware. That, of course, is the whole point of being aware.

Would you really like to know how long others can be aware for? What would be the purpose? Ask yourself that.

Peter

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:21 pm  

Your natural state is mindful awareness.
As much as anything, mindfulness practice is undoing all the conditioning and negative habits that get in the way of simply being.
Jon
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

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Peter
Site Admin
Posts: 696
Practice Mindfulness Since: 19 Aug 2013
Location: The Netherlands

Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:53 pm  

That's true! I like the way Stephan Bodian describes it:
"I actually prefer to use the phrase “present moment awareness,” because it takes away any connotation of laboriousness or effort. Being aware is the easiest thing in the world—in fact, I would suggest that it’s our natural state, prior to all the conditioning we’ve accumulated over a lifetime. When you were born and opened your eyes to the world for the first time, simple, unadulterated awareness peered out, curious and alert. When you wake up each morning and open your eyes, the very same unconditioned, unfiltered awareness greets the day, before concerns, worries, plans, and schedules rush in to cloud it over. These “mind- ful” activities require tremendous effort and exact a stressful toll; by contrast, present moment awareness is effortless."
Peter

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Happyogababe
Posts: 250
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Jan 2008

Tue Apr 26, 2016 11:05 am  

@Peter wrote:That's true! I like the way Stephan Bodian describes it:
"I actually prefer to use the phrase “present moment awareness,” because it takes away any connotation of laboriousness or effort. Being aware is the easiest thing in the world—in fact, I would suggest that it’s our natural state, prior to all the conditioning we’ve accumulated over a lifetime. When you were born and opened your eyes to the world for the first time, simple, unadulterated awareness peered out, curious and alert. When you wake up each morning and open your eyes, the very same unconditioned, unfiltered awareness greets the day, before concerns, worries, plans, and schedules rush in to cloud it over. These “mind- ful” activities require tremendous effort and exact a stressful toll; by contrast, present moment awareness is effortless."
Peter


That really, really, makes sense.
'You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf' Jon Kabat Zinn

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