I believe mindfulness to be, bringing your conscious awareness of microdetails to the forefront of your mind in the present moment. For example, if you choose to eat an apple, you may notice the colour and texture of the skin and the weight of the apple as you hold it in your hand. As you bite into the apple, you may notice the sound it makes as your teeth break the skin while you begin to taste the fruit, and maybe even the feel of the juice running down your chin or fingers. You might even notice how the apple feels in your mouth as you use your tongue and teeth to chew it. At this point you may also notice how you feel emotionally while eating the apple, whether it brings you joy or perhaps disappointment, if it’s not quite ripe enough or overripe. You may then wonder where the apple came from, how did it get to the store or market, who picked it, where was it grown, when was the tree planted that bore the apple? And so on.
Or maybe you might bring your attention to you breath and observe it as a curious witness, without changing it or judging it and notice how it moves in and out of your body in that moment in time. You might follow it as it moves through your nostrils, down your throat, through your chest and lungs and into your belly where it loops around and goes up and out the way it came in. You may notice how you feel physically, how your body moves as it accommodates your breath as it flows through it. You might notice how your feel emotionally as you’re bringing all your conscious awareness to your breath. You might notice any feelings that may arise and observe those too without attachment or judgement, merely as a curious witness.
These are only two examples of mindfulness, you can apply it to any aspect of life. Just by bringing your conscious awareness to the things around you or to the activities you are doing in the present moment, is mindfulness. Maybe you could give it a go now, for just a minute or two.
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