Mindfulness: a multi-part definition, part 1

So what is mindfulness anyway?  Let’s ask the experts.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is often credited with bringing mindfulness to medicine and health says:

Simply put, mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness.  It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment’s thought to. It is a systematic approach to developing new kinds of control and wisdom in our lives, based on our inner capacities for relaxation, paying attention, awareness, and insight.  (Full Catastrophe Living, Fifteenth Anniversary Edition, 2005, p. 2)

Moment-to-moment awareness of what?  Our thoughts?  Our feelings?  Others’ expectations of us?  The fact that the car needs a tune-up? Everything?

And why does awareness need to be cultivated?  Can’t we just pay attention to things without any practice?  Will I do more on this blog than just ask questions?

Dr. Kabat-Zinn has a deeper understanding to share about mindfulness, but I thought this would be a good starting point.  More soon.

Here is a more complete and direct definition by Dr. Kabat-Zinn:

Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. — Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life