Symptoms

Symptoms

Symptoms

  • D.J. SIEGEL (University of California Los Angeles)

MINDFULNESS in its most general sense is about WAKING up from a LIFE on AUTOMATIC. With mindful AWARENESS the flow of ENERGY and INFORMATION that is our MIND enters our CONSCIUS attention and we can both APPRECIATE its contents and also come to REGULATE its flow. MINDFUL AWARENESS, as we’ll see, actually involves more than just simply being aware: It involves BEING AWARE of aspects of the MIND ITSELF. Instead of being on AUTOMATIC and MINDLESS, it helps us AWAKEN and with this REFLECTION on the mind we make CHOICE and CHANGE possible. How we FOCUS ATTENTION helps directly SHAPE the MIND. When we develop a certain form of attention to our HERE and NOW experiences and to the NATURE of our mind itself, we create a special form of AWARENESS called MINDFULNESS.

  • R.J. DAVIDSON (University of Wisconsin at Madison)
     
  • S.W. LAZAR (Harvard University)
     
  • J.KABAT-ZINN (University of Massachusetts)

A definition of MINDFULNESS is: AWARENESS that emerges through paying ATTENTION on PURPOSE, in the PRESENT MOMENT, and NON-JUDGMENTALLY to the unfolding of EXPERIENCE moment by moment. This NON-JUDGMENTAL view in many ways can be interpreted to mean something like not GRASPING on to JUDGEMENTS, as the mind seems to continually come up with REACTIONS that assess and react. Being able to note those judgments and DISENGAGE from them may be what NON-JUDGMENTAL feels like in practice. ON PURPOSE implies that this state is created with INTENTION to focus on the present moment.