Thoughts on mindfulness

I just read the educational activity for day 27 about mindfulness and I think I may have missed the point here, but it seems like I do it a lot every day anyway. My job may consist of seismic interpretation or report for example where I need to concentrate on what I am doing in the present in order to do the work. Is this not living in the present? Arguably it is always when I get distracted from the work, for example I make a mistake curse and think "I'm not going to get this finished" and get jolted out of the present task that the pain occurs and the best approach I've found for getting rid of my pain is to ignore it completely and get back to work because then my mind is totally focussed on the interpretation I am making and not the pain so it goes away. What I'm confused about is that when we are told to live in the present and and just focus on brushing out teeth for example are we supposed to try and completely shut our brains down at that point or get lost in the task at hand?

 

I think there's a difference between mindfulness and concentration. Concentration involves total intellectual focus. With mindfulness there's focus, but also an attitude of awareness of what's going on around you that keeps you from being totally focused on your own life and problems. It's a way of getting outside yourself and seeing the big picture.
Many years ago I read a bit about Japanese Morita therapy. It seemed to teach an external focus, i.e."It's not all about me!" I think that relates to mindfulness too.
And the term can also be used in an environmental way, seeing the interconnectedness of all living things on the planet.
So it's a pretty broad concept, and one that's the base of much Eastern thought.

 

Thanks for the clarification, I find the awareness of things around me and the meditation side of things very difficult, my mind like most peoples I guess is very busy all the time. I do concentrate on how brushing my teeth feels though, so little steps.

 

For me mindfulness is the most important tool in dealing with my pain etc.
What it does for me:
- Keep the attention in the present moment
- Awareness of nonproductive thought patterns (especially pain-related)
- Non-judgmental awareness of pain cancels out the painfulness of the pain
- Draw the attention away from the pain to other, nonpainful body parts

Of course all this is very hard to do, but every moment where you can drop the attention to the present moment counts and reduces a lot of stress in my experience.
If you go on youtube there are interesting talks by e.g. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Eckhart Tolle, Sam Harris on this mindfulness stuff.

 

Calum your doing great,
You asked the question are we supposed to shut our thinking down when were mindful
no., when your mindful your thinking becomes even more enhanced.
we just float through the moment with gratitude.

I like the way you use the ignore method.

I believe concentration and mindfulness are different because
I can concentrate on a lot of stuff but still worry ya know.

Mindfulness takes away the worry and focuses on the task at hand.
No worries about getting the day over, no worries about the past.
Just a good clear focus on the goodness of life's beauty in the now.
And the breathing techniques are awesome-
I love deep breathing and feeling the positive energy from
my own inner being.

Did you look up some mindfulness techniques?
Let me know what you've tried- it'll be awesome

Bless You

 

Just my .02 worth...Dr. Martin Rossman also has some excellent stuff on Youtube. His talk on anxiety is fabulous. I also have one of his guided imagery (there's actually three of them on one app) and listen to it daily. It's very helpful. True Grit, I'm a big fan of JKZ and Tolle. I haven't heard of Sam Harris so thanks for that recommendation.