Staying in touch with You

Before you can act, you need to establish a direction. How to train mindfulness? Pay attention to your mind - associations, images that come to your mind while reading this post. At the same time, look around at your surroundings - what do you see? What do you hear? Which signals reach your senses? The consciousness of the body and of that which is happening outside at the same time - that is a manifestation of CONSCIOUSNESS. Other words you see, feel, register what is going on in your mind - in an instant.

Mindfulness training here and now is the essence of ZEN meditation. You sit on a chair or pillow with your legs crossed. Back straight, eyes open - but don't look around; concentrate on your breath. You count your breaths in series: one, two, three... up to ten. At the same time, you register all sensations. If there are images in your mind, thoughts, if you hear an inner dialogue, or you feel an impulse to do something immediately, pay attention to it and just let it go.

If you become lost in your thought, return to counting your breaths and creating a calm presence. After 20-40 minutes (I recommend 10 minutes of this exercise for beginners) you get up without haste and continue this practice by walking slowly with awareness of each step and breath.

My description of such an experience or exercise may make you think that it is something passive, without energy and power. However, this is a misunderstanding. Such a pause is an extremely powerful experience, especially for active, dynamic people. You know what happens if you accelerate a car to 100 km/h and suddenly brake! Therefore, I am not advocating a drastic approach to practice (a few-days of a ZEN workshop, or a trip to a meditation centre). Start slowly with short exercises at home/workplace, as above. Gradually, the practice of mindfulness can be incorporated into your everyday life.

You can use ordinary, everyday situations and activities at home as opportunities to practice mindfulness - when you go up the stairs, answer the phone, have an impulse to say something, use the bathroom, reach for the fridge, turn on the TV - slow down, stop. Register the first impulses that, after hearing the bell, push you to the phone or to the door. Why do you react so quickly, as if torn from life? Could the transition from one activity to another be more graceful ? Are you fully present where you are?

When you take a shower, do you feel the water trickling over your skin, or are you inattentive, lost in thought, totally absent? Do you like the food you eat? Do you realize how quickly you eat? What flavours do you experience in each mouthful? Can you really see and hear the person talking to you right now?

Mindfulness is extremely necessary during business talks. At the Harvard School of Negotiation, students are encouraged to "go out on the balcony" -imagine you are dancing in the ballroom, but at the same time you are sitting on the balcony and watching yourself and other dancers move. Can you do that?

Gosia

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