One of the buzz words lately is mindfulness. Also, it is being used for the treatment of mood disorders. What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is the act of being aware of our thoughts, emotions and body in the moment without judgement. For me, it is just letting myself “be” who I am at that moment without self-judgement which takes me on a different pathway. Self-judgement, thinking about the past or the future often gets in the way of being mindful.

The more aware you are the better you are able to handle things that come up in life or just day to day events. But, it easy to become distracted. Mindfulness can take the form of nothing more than taking three successive breaths while remembering they are a conscious experience of body activity within mind. This approach is particularly helpful when it is difficult to establish a regular meditation practice.

Most often we are usually in a state of mindlessness...okay stop laughing. Or "zoned out"

Examples are:

• While driving, you don't remember the experience or which roads you took.
• While having a conversation, you suddenly realize you don't know what the other person is talking about.
• While having a conversation, you're already thinking about what you are going to say.
• While reading, you suddenly realize that you have no idea of what you just read.
• After putting down something, you can't remember where you just put it.
• While taking a shower, you're thinking about something else and then don't know if you washed your hair or some other body part.

Mindfulness is an English translation from Eastern practices. I believe in its usefulness on many levels. Wikipedia states, "Mindfulness is awareness of one's thoughts, actions or motivations. Mindfulness (Pali: Sati; Sanskrit: smṛti स्मृति) plays a central role in the teaching of the Buddha where it is affirmed that 'correct' or 'right' mindfulness (Pali:samm?-sati; Sanskrit samyak-sm?ti) is an essential factor in the path to enlightenment and liberation. It is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path, the sadhana of which is held in the tradition to engender 'insight' and 'wisdom' (Sanskrit: prajñ?)."

I also think of this in terms of Christian ideas, which I won't get into here. To me, Examples are practicing Gods presence, silent prayer, Quakers, being still before God. However, mindfulness differs in that you are not trying to hear God, but hear yourself. But, in order to really hear God, you have to hear yourself and be quiet. To me, mindfulness, is the step just before you hear or sense God's presence. Now, remember this is my opinion. I'm not looking for a debate.

One of the essential keys to mindfulness is breathing and meditation. Practice it with this video. (Remember this is only a part of mindfulness. It is much more complex.)

So how was that for you and what is your experience with mindfulness or meditations?

Meditate and Teach Your Brain Compassion!

Would you like to be more compassionate, empathic, or kind?

Well, scientific researchers are discovering that compassion or kindness meditation practiced by Tibetan Buddhist monks can alter peoples responses to be more compassionate. They measured participants brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Brain Blogger: Topics from Multidimensional BioPsychoSocial Perspectives had an article entitled, “Meditate to Learn Compassion” by Jennifer Gibson, PharmD. The following is an excerpt from the article

"The researchers concluded that the brain can, therefore, be trained to exhibit more powerful responses to empathy. People can learn to regulate thoughts and emotions and promote happiness and compassion through practicing compassion meditation regularly. Techniques for compassion meditation include concentration exercises that train attention, behavioral training such as practicing generosity, and cognitive strategies of self-reflection and visualizing the suffering of others. The long-term goal for practitioners of compassion meditation is to decrease egocentric traits, allowing altruistic behaviors to arise more frequently.

Scientists hope that these techniques may be useful for teaching compassion to children and adolescents and decreasing bullying and violence, as well as helping people prone to depression learn compassion for themselves. The researchers are planning a study to examine brain changes over a longer period of time of people who practice compassion meditation.

Meditation practices impact physiological pathways that regulate stress and disease-causing processes. Much attention is focused on meditation to improve attention, develop mindfulness, and calm the mind. However, there is now evidence that physiological processes are activated in meditation focused on cultivating compassion. An additional study found that engaging in compassion meditation might reduce stress-induced immune and behavioral responses."

For more information on what compassion meditation is go to the following links: Healing with Awareness and Science Daily.

The research is at the beginning stages and previous research has shown that any type of meditation or prayer has a positive effect on the brain, but they had not previously studied this area. To me, it has fascinating implications.

More empathy, compassion and kindness would sure make the global garden beautiful with vibrant, healthy, colorful flowers.