Mindfulness

By indulging in thinking either about past incidents or about future intentions, our thoughts take us away from being here now. In this state, if we are doing something like driving a car, there is a chance that you could miss something like observing an important traffic sign. For that matter, if we are overtaken by our thoughts, we loose all our awareness about happenings in the current moment. When I take a moment to observe myself having thoughts, I am no longer the thoughts. I get to be and observe at the same time. The one thing that always happens now is our breathing, if we concentrate on our breathing, it draws me into the present. This paying attention to the here and now, to the breath, to the observing one's thoughts without being critical or judgmental is called Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is being aware of and paying attention to the current moment. Our past is gone, our future is not yet here. So what exist between them is the present moment. If I can observe and not get caught up in my thoughts, it is all that I have. The here and now, the present is the link which holds what was and what will be. My past was a series of present moments which brought me to this present moment. My future should it happen will be a series of present moments effected by only present moment in which I am now living, being, doing, observing, being aware or unaware, and attentive or inattentive. Mindfulness occurs only in the individual. That individual makes a choice to be in the moment and be aware of what is happening in the present moment. In that choice is a realization.