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Publication day (what is Mindfulness anyway?)

Publication day and Amazon can’t meet demand….

We are often asked ‘what is Mindfulness meditation?’ I became so wrapped up in thinking about the best way of expressing the answer that I became completely unmindful. My thoughts took on a life of their own, hopping from one thought chain to the next, and the next, and the next…. After a while I realised that I’d just burnt the bread I’d put in the oven twenty minutes previously…. My autopilot had seized control again! Four hours of mixing, kneading and proving gone to waste. Except it hadn’t gone to waste because it brought home to me (again) just how clever the mind is. It wants to think and it will always find a way of doing so. This is marvelous, most of the time.

Sometimes we need to focus our mind on just one thing – or to be fully aware of our mind in action. In essence this is what Mindfulness is – full and pure awareness of how our minds work. It’s a space in which to watch and sense the mind and body. To hold it in a space that’s greater than thinking, wiser than thinking.

I love thinking, but sometimes it’s good to just pause for a while and instead become fully conscious and aware. It’s a different state of being. Not better or worse, just different.

I’m off now to bake another loaf from some dough from the freezer. Baking shall be my meditation for today. I shall be fully aware of the aroma as the bread begins to bake. Smell it as it swirls through my nostrils and into my lungs. Perhaps I’ll hear little popping sounds as the trays in the oven begin to expand with heat. Or maybe I’ll hear nothing at all.

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