Mindfulness: a multi-part definition, part 5
Posted: January 26, 2011 Filed under: Definition, Mindfulness | Tags: anxiety, beginner's mind, curiosity, definition, depression, gentleness, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Lizabeth Roemer, mindfulness, shame, Susan Orsillo, The Mindful Way Through Anxiety Leave a commentIn The Mindful Way Through Anxiety, Susan Orsillo PhD, and Lizabeth Roemer, PhD, define mindfulness as:
…a specific way of paying atttention to things. It involves purposefully expanding your attention to take in both what you are experiencing inside –your thought, feelings, and physical sensations — and what is happening around you. But the kind of attention you bring to noticing is an essential aspect of this practice. Mindfulness involves bringing a gentle and honest curiosity to your experiences. It involves looking at familiar thought, people, and situations with a fresh perspective, as if you had never encountered them before.
This is an interesting definition because it builds on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition, “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” from Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, by breaking out process aspects of training in mindfulness. Where Kabat-Zinn outlines the minimum requirements for being mindful, Orsillo and Roemer add additional qualities like gentleness, curiosity, and beginner’s mind to the definition. Kabat-Zinn may argue that these additional qualities both support mindfulness and are a product of it, and I believe these are helpful, though not essential, aspirational qualities to outline, especially for those with anxiety, depression, and shame.
I received this book in the mail just today, and I look forward to giving it a thorough reading, and possibly even a review.