My doubts about Mindfulness

[Quim]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Quim and I'm from Barcelona. I have read several books about Mindfulness and have been doing some practice. Anyway, I've got some doubts that I hope you can solve...

- When we practice the meditation of difficulties, I mean, that meditation that consists in watching our difficult thoughts... I can not provoke this kind of thoughts. I can think about them, but they don't affect me. My mind is not a machine so you push one button and the bad thoughts appear. The only time I can practice this kind of meditations is when this thoughts appear spontaneously, wich makes impossible a regular practice.

- Is it possible to meditate while watching a landscape? I love the nature, so when I go to the mountains and try to meditate, I would like to do it paying attention to the environtment, not only my breath, the sounds, the body... because I can do these meditations at home!

- I'll try to be very concret in this question. I know the general benefits of Mindfulness. In fact, I experimented it in my life as a "whole phylosophy". My question is: what are the concret benefits of paying attention to something, say our breath, the shower, etc? They say "everytime you lose your attention and you bring it to the object again, you enforce your mind, like you do with your muscles in the gym". You enforce your mind to do what? What are the concret benefits of this exercice?

Thank you very much.

Haver a nice day!

[JonW]

It's about being present in our lives. I'd recommend any of the books by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Cheers,
Jon

[Quim]

It's about being present in our lives. I'd recommend any of the books by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Cheers,
Jon

I read it, Jon. Jon Kazat-Zinn, Mark Williams, Dan Goleman and Richard Davidson. My question is not about the concept, but about the practice.

[JonW]

Hi there.
I was referring to practice, not concepts.
In terms of "benefits", then we learn to connect with who we are, we learn to relate more intimately with the world that is apparently around us, and with others.
Hopefully we wake up to what is, rather than spend our lives ruminating on the past and speculating about the future.
But we're not looking for any specific result. We're just noticing what's in our experience right now - good, bad or indifferent. That should be benefit enough.
Remember, we're not using mindfulness to get somewhere. We're simply opening to the way things actually are, right now. That direct noticing of our experience teaches us new ways of navigating outside the box of our habitual patterns of thinking and reacting. We begin to find a space in which we can respond rather than react.
Cheers,
Jon, Hove

[Gareth]

In relation to your points:

1. I've no experience of teaching week 5, so I'm perhaps not the best person to answer. But instinctively I would suggest that we aren't trying to force anything with mindfulness. We are merely paying to attention to what is already there. If you aren't having any difficult thought, then that's a reason to have a glass of champagne, I'd say.

2. I'ts perfectly fine to meditate based upon things that you can see e.g. a landscape. I've meditated this way many times myself.

3. You ask your mind to come back to the present moment. This becomes easier to do with constant repetition, and it will aid you in times of difficulty.

[quirky_friend]

With the difficult situation meditation I find focus on any thoughts difficult, as they just vanish if I'm trying this focus on them. I have a feeling that it is something to do with my depression/anxiety and it will eventually sort itself out.
As for meditation on views coming from a Christian mystic tradition we call those times of meditation out of usual practice a meeting for worship for <insert activity>. I have had worship polishing pews with beeswax which was truly mindful

[Gareth]

With the difficult situation meditation I find focus on any thoughts difficult, as they just vanish if I'm trying this focus on them.

Thoughts do tend to disappear as soon as the light of awareness is shone on them. This is my experience anyway, and I've been meditating for over five years.

[JonW]

"Thoughts do tend to disappear as soon as the light of awareness is shone on them."

That's very well put and tends to be my experience too.
If that's what is happening, then don't worry about. The meditation is the simple noticing of it. We're not looking for anything special to happen. We're not looking to change anything. We're just being with what is. That's the practice.
Cheers,
Jon

[Quim]

Ok, first of all, thank you everyone for your answers and for sharing your wisdom with me.

And this is my last question about the difficult situation meditation. Do I have to practice it only when the "bad" thoughts come spontaneously?

[JonW]

Hi there.
It's in week five of the Frantic World course that we are invited to bring a difficult thought to mind and notice how our body reacts. We practice with slightly difficult thoughts rather than throw ourselves in at the deep end.
It's in week six that we start looking at the idea that thoughts are not facts.
Eventually, this stuff becomes second nature. A thought arises, we notice it, remind ourselves that it is just a thought, use our discernment as to whether we'll act on it or not.
Again, mindfulness isn't teaching us that thoughts are bad. We're not looking to change thoughts or stop them arising. We're simply learning to see thoughts as thoughts. They only have power over us if we grant them that power.
Cheers,
Jon, Hove