Secular Mindfulness

Is mindfulness meditation? Or something else?

Mindfulness is the art of paying attention. To be mindful is to be consciously aware of something. Mindfulness is the state being consciously aware. Recently, mindful meditation has been promoted, which is a practice designed to help you to be more mindful in your everyday life.

The problem with meditation is that it is often packaged with woo. Woo, for those of you who don’t know, is a derogatory term used to describe non-science teachings and practices. Most of what passes for self help these days is woo.

But is mindfulness and/or meditation woo?  Well, not necessarily. There are secular non-woo versions of both. Secular meaning non-supernatural and non-woo meaning some has actual science to back it up.

But to get back to the central question, is mindfulness meditation? Or something else?  Yes and no. Mindfulness is a state of being consciously aware. Meditation is a practice which depending on the method can help you become more consciously aware, at least in the moment.

So why do meditation? Well, it turns out that it is surprisingly hard to be mindful. Focusing your attention and awareness for any length of time is something most brains fight. Our minds seem to have a mind of their own. They think what they want to think and it might not be want you want to be thinking about.

Just try and sit still and be aware of nothing but your breath. I dare you!

Most people can’t just be aware of their breath and nothing else without practice.  This is why meditation is called a practice. Meditation, in its most secular non-woo form, is the practice of concentrating.

Assuming you have no medical reasons why concentration would be hard, most people can train their brains, through practice, to concentrate more effectively and presumably on your command. That’s all secular mindfulness or meditation is.

To learn more about how this works and the science behind it, consider taking Rick Heller’s excellent program, Humanist Meditation: Answers for Skeptics at Humanist Learning Systems.

Don’t be Mindless

The value of mindfulness in business and in life.

The Harvard Business Review has been putting out a lot of great stuff in the realm of Humanistic Business Management. Recently, they did an interview with Ellen Langer about her work on the benefits of mindfulness. Ellen Langer is a professor of psychology at Harvard University btw.

Here is a link to the video: http://hbr.org/video/3117535032001/enliven-your-work-with-mindfulness (we are unable to embed it).

The big take away from Ms. Langer’s research is “that by paying attention to what’s going on around us, instead of operating on auto-pilot, we can reduce stress, unlock creativity, and boost performance.”

According to Langer, “Mindfulness is the process of actively noticing new things. When you do that, it puts you in the present.” The benefits of being more present include better performance, better innovation, and it makes people more charismatic to those around them  (and why not, you are actually awake and not on auto-pilot – you stand out). 

Mindfulness also helps you be less judgmental about others, because instead of mindlessly pigeonholing them, you actually take the time to consider why they are behaving the way they do.  Sounds a lot like the active practice of freethought and compassion to me.

What’s really interesting about the article that goes with the interview: http://hbr.org/2014/03/mindfulness-in-the-age-of-complexity/ar/1?referral=00060 is how this mindfulness approach impacts business management. The techniques she describes as the practice of mindfulness sound a lot like critical thinking, combined with active compassion to me.

If you are interested in the work of the Langer Mindfulness Institute – here is their website: http://langermindfulnessinstitute.com/

Mindfulness in everyday life

3 ways to be mindful in everyday life.

Humanism is not an abstract philosophy. It has real world and immediate implications for how you choose to live your life.  In order to be a truly moral person it is important to think.  The question is what should you think about and how can you think in a way that improves your life instead of causing you to get into a endless thought rut.

Here are 3 ways you can think about your everyday actions that will help you to be more mindful and to gain greater enjoyment from life at the same time.

1) Think about what is moral. Being mindful isn’t helpful if it is selfish. Think about what you are doing as a question of morality and you will automatically be more mindful. You will also feel better about who you are as an individual.

2) Start with small things. Like – do you return your shopping cart and why at the supermarket? Are you smiling and making eye contact with people at the supermarket?  Choose one thing at a time to work on that you do multiple times a week and you will find it not only effects your mood immediately, it will also become habit forming because you get to practice it often. These habits will also transfer over to other areas of your life as you experience the benefits of a more mindful approach.

3) Remind yourself to be compassionate with the jerks in your life. When we are dealing with a negative situation, our focus is often on how to defend ourselves. When you find yourself getting stressed and defensive, remind yourself to think compassionately about the person who isn’t behaving properly. Don’t insist they behave better, they aren’t capable of it and insisting that they do is part of why the conflict is persisting. Just compassionately accept that for whatever reason, they are incapable in this moment of behaving better. Forgive them and move on. This will help you feel better immediately and help you navigate these difficult situations in a way that you will feel good about instead of beating yourself up afterwards for what you could have or should have said. Feelings of compassionate eliminate that need.

If you want to learn more, consider my Humanist life skills course – Living Made Simpler. (http://humanisthappiness.com)