Being mindful is to be aware of the here and now without any judgements of the situation, we find ourselves. Being aware though, sounds quite abstract, doesn’t it?
You see, there are different types and directions that we can place our awareness.
Broad awareness
For example, when we walk in nature, we want broad awareness; we want to experience everything, to see the playful colours, the sunlight as it pierces through leaves and branches, to hear all kind of nature sounds from the singing of the birds to the melody of the downstream.
Focused awareness
Other times, for example, when we drive in the dark while raining, we may need focused attention, we want to be aware of what happens on the road and ahead of us.
Directing our awareness
And surely, there are times that we want to direct our attention inwards and notice what is happening inside us (what our thoughts and feelings are) or direct our attention outwards at the environment we live in.
And as you may have guessed, we can always be aware of both the inside and the outside, and this is where we experience to the fullest our life.
Merging the outside and inside
During today’s mindfulness exercise, we will start by focusing to the sounds around us (ie, to the outside) and then we will shift our attention to the thoughts (ie, to the inside). And after a while, we will merge the outside and the inside.
You can listen to the guided meditation below and please let me know about your thoughts or questions.
Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay