The Honest Guide to Mindfulness, Part 1

The Honest Guide to Mindfulness, Part 1

By Leo Babauta

Mindfulness has (amazingly, wonderfully) become quite(kwīt) a buzzword(ˈbəzˌwərd) in the last decade or so, and for good reason. It’s powerful, and can help us to become more present, happier, more focused, and much more.

However, if you’re new to mindfulness, it’s easy to get the wrong idea from all the marketing you’ll find online. Images of people at complete peace with the world and themselves, full of bliss(blis), simply by sitting still and meditating(ˈmedəˌtāt) for a few minutes … they are beautiful images, but they don’t tell the whole truth.

Mindfulness is powerful, and you should absolutely do it. But you should do it with your eyes wide open, knowing what’s up.

So here’s my attempt at an honest guide to mindfulness.

Mindfulness is hard. You can meditate(ˈmedəˌtāt) and get antsy(ˈantsē), want to get up, want to go do something else, plan your day, dive(dīv) into your work, answer a few messages, search for some information you’re itching(iCH) to know about.

Mindfulness is hard, which is a good reason to do it.

Mindfulness is messy(ˈmesē). You’ll get started with meditation, maybe get on a streak(strēk) of meditating every day, and feel really good about yourself. Then you might fall off, struggle to start again, feel bad about it. You’ll do this for years, perhaps. Or maybe you’ll meditate regularly(ˈreɡyələrlē) but struggle to be mindful throughout the day, especially during certain situations like working online or while you’re eating or socializing. You’ll get better at being present, but only in spurts(spərt) and starts, and the learning will be anything but smooth.

Mindfulness is messy, just like life, which is the reason to open up to the messiness(ˈmesēnəs) instead of our usual desire for things to be orderly and neat(nēt). We can learn to accept the messiness of life if we practice with it.

Mindfulness is uncomfortable. Sitting still and facing the sensations(senˈsāSHən) of the present moment can feel boring. It can bring up itches that you just need to scratch(skraCH) right now. Urges(ərj) to go to do something else, to plan and solve and remember, will come up, because they are the old mental(ˈmentl) habits. And not following those urges can be very uncomfortable.

Mindfulness is uncomfortable because it’s so rare(re(ə)r) for us not to indulge(inˈdəlj) in those old mental patterns. But that’s the very reason it’s so powerful.

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https://zenhabits.net/honest-mindfulness/