Grateful

I forget how lucky I am to work in a field where I am surrounded by positive energy, creative ideas and people trying to live life to the fullest. I take for granted my level of self-awareness and mindfulness, which I am continually challenging myself on. I just wanted to take a second to write this.

If you are reading this blog and feeling like you don't even know where to start to "look within," then know that you are not alone. Daniel Siegel calls it "mindsight" - knowing your own mind, and the minds of others. I like to think about knowing your mind as paying attention to the running thoughts that are always there, rolling past as if on a scrolling marquee, narrating your experiences, your feelings, your thoughts, your self-judgments. When you can start to tune into that "thinking mind" and notice the trail of thoughts that inhabit your brain, you will start to know your mind. And then, once you have mindsight, you can do two very crucial things to happiness. One, you can stop and/or change the thoughts that are in your thinking mind. Two, you can detach from your thought process all together in order to be fully present.

Maybe I will continually write notes like this, both to clarify my own thoughts about how to teach mindfulness, and to help readers who are new to this idea. Please share your comments and feedback!