WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

• Your natural ability to pay attention
• Recognizing where you are: ”right here, right now” OR “lost in stories of the past or the future”?
• Creating a larger awareness of your immediate experience, both within you and around you
• Choosing to bring wakefulness, kindness and curiosity to this life of yours!

HOW IS MINDFULNESS STRENGTHENED?

• It is not by watching someone else do it, like a golf tournament or cooking show on TV.
• It’s not something someone else does to you or for you, like a haircut or a visit to the dentist.
• It is you, practicing techniques and exercises to strengthen abilities you already have.
• It is you strengthening your “muscles” to pay attention to what’s going on right now-- around you and inside of you.

WHY BOTHER? WHY IS MINDFULNESS A GOOD IDEA?

• Our “autopilot” thoughts and emotions, the ones we are not aware of, may take us to places or create situations we’d rather they didn’t…...causing misunderstandings or tensions or regrets.
• Research shows that your mind is probably wandering about one-half of your waking hours
• Research shows that a wandering mind is associated with higher levels of unhappiness
• Brain imaging confirms that what you pay attention to (or don’t pay attention to) literally changes your brain’s structure and function.

WHAT PROMPTS OTHERS TO BE CURIOUS ABOUT EXPLORING MINDFULNESS TRAINING?

• Recognizing that “busyness” has become a lifestyle and a measure of self-worth
• Sensing that large segments of the day blur by while operating on “autopilot”
• Feeling exhausted by life’s “urgencies”
• Wondering if there is a way to “slow down and smell the roses”
• Tired of the harshness with which they speak to themselves and others
• Interested in developing a different relationship with chronic pain or illness
• Ready to move beyond just “reading about it”.
• Wanting to strengthen an existing mindfulness practice