What is mindfulness first of all.

There is nothing mystical about it. Mindfulness is a tactic that we use to direct the mind. It doesn’t matter if you know you have it or not you will periodically use it.

We will not talk about flow here but as a quick summary, flow is a powerful state of being where we can work at something for long durations and through hardship without much stress at all. This is equivalent to working on a hard project and then looking up at the clock and hours have passed by that appears to be only a brief moment.

In order to access this powerful state of flow, the pre-requisite is mindfulness. Everyone accesses flow periodically, which means that everyone taps into mindfulness periodically.

Yet, mindfulness is not a state of you do or you don’t have it kind of thing. We all embody a variation of mindfulness in various applications in life. Yet you can see where mindfulness has amplified your life, if you look it becomes quite obvious.

There are those who will disappear in a video game, yet struggle to sit down with a homework assignment. There are those who will have mindfulness with with job and when they come home are absent to their family. There are those who will flow at the gym but feel like vomiting at the thought of reading a book. We can see where mindfulness and flow are taking place and where it is not.

It just so happens that what we are good at, what we are passionate about, we have also applied mindfulness.

What is mindfulness if I was to define it?

Mindfulness is a state of being mindfully present. When we are doing something we are strictly doing that specific task in the present moment. Nothing else is pulling us away, not a thought, not a distractions, we are in the zone, or at least applying the tools to get into flow, this tool is mindfulness.

Yet mindfulness is a major topic in human performance. I always believe that part of being strong and growing in our pursuit of knowledge also requires that we understand its opposite.

Lets then ask the question, what is the opposite of mindfulness?

This become clear, it is mindlessness

What is mindlessness?

Not having deep awareness of our thoughts and actions. Having our mind drift from one place to another with no depth of thought. Lack of mindfulness unleashes what is often referred to the monkey mind.

The monkey mind often causes a series of detrimental effects that not only hinders efficiency, it can also moves things backwards. A few of the negatives it creates are:

A feeling of lack of control

Reliance on substances

Unable to relax

Unable to enjoy the moment

Anger and frustration

Anxiety

Feeling alone

Feeling rushed

Not able to concentrate

Feeling of missing out or grass is greener on the other side effect

Irritation with self and/or with others

Losing control of eating habits

Relying on things to get through the day

Sadness/Depression

Worry

There are clearly varying degrees of the list above, yet it is a good place to start to catch some of our own behaviors as signals that we are acting in a state of mindlessness.

One of the most important things that we need to remember is that mindfulness is where all our best works happen, where performance and quality output is at the highest.

Mindfulness is not a state that happens to a lucky few, it is a tactic, a skill that has been practiced for thousands of years, making some of the greatest warriors, enlightened monks and scholar’s, great inventions and discoveries in science all due to this very skill.

If we wish to be a high performing human being we have to be able to use mindfulness at will and not in sporadic areas of our lives but practice it enough that you can spread it every where in every aspect of our life, not neglecting it in areas that might amplify the quality of living.

There are things in this world that happen in the mind without our consent, some negative, our monkey mind that causes a negative chain reaction. Sometimes the positives, activating mindfulness and flow.

Yet when you understand it, you have a greater ability to wield it on command. You can temper the negatives while bringing out more of the positives through a new found skill of manually activating flow through mindfulness.

Practice:

To begin, the very first task is to practice seeing your thoughts. In psychology terms, it is called metacognition, thinking about your thinking.

Hear your voice, and pull it into the present moment. If you are drinking tea, then be with the tea and nothing else, if you are speaking with a loved one, than be with a loved one and nothing else.

Go ahead try it, practice it and amplify your life.

Civilian elite – A better society

How to Manliness

Lucky Nghi