Mindfullness and what is missing
I totally buy in the the mindfulness ideas that the past does not exists, the present does not exists; we only have the moment we are living in. This is very simple to understand and a great mantra to live by.
There is a large portion missing, however, in this simple idea and so I feel compelled to argue that this is, of course, a misleading and overly simplified message.
An example: If a woman is physically or mentally abused by her husband, in a mindful world, she should just put it in the past and move on, but the greatest indicator of future behavoir is history; how they have behaved in the past, is a great indicator of how they will behave in the future. This will be rather contrary to the mindful world as, although the pain is still not in the past and needs to be greived and survived, it cannot be forgotten too quickly or the behavoir often repeats itself.
Mistakes: I maintain that the way I learn best is by making mistakes. Mistakes are often seen as a sign of weakness or something to be embarassed by, but in moderation of course, they should be seen as the great learning experience that they are. Being mindful might have an inhibiting effect on this although concentration and putting ones mind into the task, is obviously a good thing.
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Repetition: Malcolm Gladwell in his book entitled “Outliers” states: “It takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials”. Whilst I see the huge significance of this statement, it is a sort of continuous mindfulness with remembered mistakes. I beleive in this repetition. Having taken up woodworking recently, I find myself trying to master a new skill and just not being able to do it, but then suddenly, it seem, after repeatedly going over the physical motion, it suddenly starts to magically work. I find this fascinating.
Roving conciousness: This is also an interesting practice with the allowing of your thoughts to just wander in an unformed manner. I read that the opposite of mindfullness is mindlessness which is perceived as an avoidance of life, distractions like social media, drinking and drug usage. This is also is a way to use boredom to your advantage and allow thoughts to flow in a rather unrestrained manner. I think there is a very positive alternative to mindfulness, which seems to be such a buzzing word at the moment and a direction many people are following as it is ubiquitous in the self help world.
Flow state: ideas coming fast and with a great deal of creativity is a great thing to experience. This flow state allows the mind to come up with immaginative and creative solutions, and it seems counter to mindlessness.
Mindlessness seen in a positive light. Strategically used, one can do a mindless task like sanding a piece of wood and bazinga one comes up with a brilliant idea or solution to a problem that had been bothering them — mindfullness in this instance, is a negative thing.
Mind body relationship: A wonderful yoga instructor was telling her class that despite many thoughts to the contrary, the body and mind were interconnected. The instructor gave the example of trying hard to stop a sneeze by just willing it so, but the brain is not the controller of everything in your body, their is a symbiotic and highly reciprocal relationship, so stopping a sneeze with thoughts alone is not possible, nor a good idea. I always think of the cartoon characters on Futurama, maintained alive in jars filled with a nutrient-rich fluid called H2OGfat, these characters are able to speak, eat, and operate robotic attachments; but in reality a head without a body is so obviously incomplete. The Leonard Nimoy head states “”Doing the same thing over and over for all eternity… it’s just like being on Star Trek!”.
So in conclusion, the mantra of mindfulness is over simplified in many presentations. In itself its a great idea, but the above should also be considered before immersing oneself into the new practice of being mindful and in the moment.
