Mindfulness, meditation, aren’t they the same thing?

Mindful15: Stress Management | Mindfulness | Meditation

The words "mindfulness" and "mediation" are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference. Listen to the podcast: Or, read the blog: Recall: We defined mindfulness as awareness without judgement. When you are mindful, you look objectively at what is happening right here, right now. You see what’s happening just as it is, without adding your opinions about whether what’s happening is good, bad, or in-between. Without deciding whether you like it or don’t like it. Mindfulness is one of the most effective ways to manage stress, because it allows you to react to what’s happening in a careful, considered way instead of reacting automatically. But you cannot just will yourself to be mindful any more than you can will yourself into being a good guitar player. Imagine you’ve never played before but you want to join your friend’s band. You know exactly what you’d have to do. You’d start by learning a chord or two. You might get some help from a friend, or some online videos, or maybe you’d take a class. You’d probably sound awful in the beginning, but with regular practice, the chords would sound cleaner and crisper. Over time, you’d add even more chords to your repertoire and you’d learn to smoothly transition from one chord to another. One day, you’d be good enough to join the band. Mindfulness is learned in the same way, bit by bit, through regular practice. Meditation is the tool used to learn mindfulness. Meditation is also known as formal mindfulness practice. To meditate, you set aside a period of time to practice, maybe just five minutes to being with. You find a relatively quiet place so you can minimize outside distractions. You sit and bring your attention to your breath. You practice keeping your attention steadily on the breath and bringing it back to the breath every time it wanders. Over time, you might lengthen your meditation sessions to practice being mindful for longer stretches. Eventually, you’ll have practiced enough that you can take our mindfulness out of formal meditation and into the activities of daily life. When a potentially stressful situation comes along, you’ll be strong enough to apply mindfulness easily and deal with the situation calmly. Regular practice is the essential ingredient here. It is better to practice for a short time every day (or at least several times per week) than it is to practice once or twice a week for a long time. Practice right now (or download for later) This is a 10-minute guided meditation on the breath. Questions about meditation? Let me know and I'll try to answer them in future posts. Before you go If you enjoyed this lesson, please share it using the social media buttons you see below, or click here to tell your friends. To subscribe to our lessons, use one of these links: Email (you’ll get free extras) | iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube | Google Play | Blubrry | Libsyn | Blogger | facebook | iHeartRADIO | Spotify (search for Mindful15)