Mindfulness involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there's a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment.
Mindfulness is a popular method to handle emotions by paying attention to them. It is derived from the Buddhist concept Sati.
You may practice mindfulness since a very young age but not realize it. Here are a couple examples:
At Lafayette Elementary School in Northwest Washington, Sofia Parodi recently took a coveted seat at the head of the classroom and asked a fellow fourth-grader to switch off the lights and instructed the class to “Close your eyes and take three deep breaths,” They fell into a familiar rhythm of silently counting their breaths, then sharing their experience with their classmates.. Source: The Washington Post
Mumpreneur Dani Matthews shares the weekly mindfulness schedule she has set. Source: The Huffington Post
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist leader who introduced mindfulness to Westerners (Google got first dibs on him as a guest speaker), once said, “The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.” Yet for the majority of sentient beings today, simply getting through an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” without tending multiple screens is a quasi-mystical triumph. Naturally, the architects of our electronic age approach the situation as if it were an engineering problem.
