Mindfulness and Focus

[piedwagtail91]

Not quite. I don't think I put it as well as I could have done.
Your mind will wander when reading just as it always does.
By mindful reading I mean being aware of that and coming back to the text.
I know sometimes I think I'm reading a book and haven't a clue what's on the page or sometimes in my case pages.
It did seem from the post that you couldn't read mindfuly
after re reading it seems it may be down to the'mindfulness play on words'
I suppose when reading mindfuly you're focused on the text and not thinking about reading.


I know you can walk on auto pilot but as you go on to say you can walk mindfuly feeling the sand between your toes as opposed to thinking about walking. though again being aware of the mechanics of walking as you walkis also mindful

[Kacy]

Well I'm aware of these common distractions that people are experiencing since I have experienced them too, like I think I'm reading and suddenly I realize that I'm thinking about what I'm gonna prepare for dinner, or that I've read 4 pages and realized that I have no idea what it was that I've read. But I've started working on that long time ago and it happens now rarely since I'm used to really focusing on the text.

By mindful reading do you mean noticing the moments when you are not focusing on the text, and coming back to it?

Cheers

[piedwagtail91]

You put it so much simpler than I did !!!!!

[mark_cdf]

It's an interesting topic. I haven't deliberately tried 'mindful reading' but, interestingly, I find reading much easier and far more enjoyable since I started practicing mindfulness. In the past I could be reading the words and thinking of something else, so read a few paragraphs before realising I having no clue what I just read. I don't find myself doing that very often nowadays.

Mark

[piedwagtail91]

"By mindful reading do you mean noticing the moments when you are not focusing on the text, and coming back to it?
Cheers"

sorry missed this bit, trying to read it on the phone - maybe not as mindfully as i might have

yeh, that how i do it, i usually restart the page, not as punishment for mind wander but just in case my minds been wandering for longer than i thought.

[ONE: Deeper Peace]

Seems we did, MM.
But this is surely over-thinking it all?
Our lives are not split into moments of being and doing. Every moment is an invitation to attend to that moment with self-compassion, non-judgmentally.
There is no half-mindfulness. That is not the practice. You cannot practice mindfulness with half a brain. There is no half-brain.
With respect, what you are referring to is more about self-help and has little to do with the teachings of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mark Williams, Vidyamala Burch etc.

This is wonderfully expressed, thank you for posting it.