Stop Practising Mindfulness
Our minds are full of rubbish anyways.
This piece began to write itself when I saw the following note from
and which I resonated with instantly on first seeing it:I’d like to go one step further than Derek, and propose we stop practising “mindfulness” altogether.
People familiar with my writings here will be aware of my advocacy of moving into a heart-centred way of being, and away from the mind-centred mode of “doing”. I’ve previously said that to practise “mindfulness” is a lost cause, as trying to schedule it as if it’s some sort of set activity to do at designated points in the day doesn’t move us into a state of being.
There are, of course, particular modalities that make it easier to experience a sense of presence, and I don’t intend on stopping my trips into the woods and the opportunities to ground that they provide me. I’m also not going to let that be the end of me being as present in the now as I possibly can for the rest of the day. Those exercises, if anything, are benchmarks for me to say “this is what I need to be experiencing all of the time”.
Notice, too, how I switched from talking about “mindfulness” to talking about “presence” - a gift that Derek has given through his note that adds a linguistic element into why the “mindfulness” paradigm is not helping you in finding ease in the discomforts of your life.
I see the mind as an antenna, sending and receiving signals between the matrix we inhabit (which includes our physical body) and the wisdom of our individual, collective and soul memory. That wisdom lives in the heart - something innately recognised in Native American traditions, amongst others. It is experienced in sensation - love, anger, grief, and so on - and whenever we are blocked from feeling those sensations to the fullest, our mind begins to create patterns of behaviour and narratives that attempt to “wake us up” to that blockage - most often through doubling down on destructive patterns that keep us from becoming stable and contempt in a compromised state. We then transmit this into the world through our actions to create an environment that supports and reinforces exactly those things.
The calling in all of this is to be present to what is alive within our heart, bring it to consciousness, and thus be able to release the parts of our “mind” that are “(mind)set” on holding us back. This is reflected right down to the language we use in trying to communicate this phenomena. It’s not about being “full” in the mind. It’s about experiencing the present without the chatter in our heads that would distract us from it, or the rationalisations and reasons we give to what we do as being “good for our blood pressure” or whatever.
It’s no coincidence to me that the words “gift” and “present” can be synonymous; being in the present is what gifts us the opportunity to grow. Being “mind-full” is, therefore, a state of stagnation. See how powerful even the language we use can be in driving particular narratives? That’s exactly the reason why I’m a poet - I am exploring the language that best communicates our intentions and that allows us to bring our soul purposes online. I am devoted to the art of wielding the lexicon of our species to bring about the most beautiful forms of flourishing we can for the benefit of all.
In an age of Orwellian newspeak where words seem so disconnected from actions, it is so tempting to try and change the action to match the word. But we can’t change actions without changing the narratives that inform those actions, and the narratives at play are formed from the words we give to them. It is time to bring the words we use in alignment with how we are showing up in the world - and how we are called to show up in the world in accordance with our higher principles and morals. This starts with remembering to feel our presence in this existence, right here, right now.
So stop practising mindfulness. Start practising presence.
P.S. I’ll be doing a livestream on Sunday 15th June Thursday 19th June (Rescheduled) at 8pm to do some readings of Poems That Changed My Life. I was originally going to time it with a corresponding Substack post, but I opted to delay that piece a bit in favour of this one. So if you’d like to come listen in to some of the poems that have shaped me in how I look at the world today (and suggest some of your own!), you can join me using the link below tomorrow, or keep an eye out on Twitch for when the feed goes live.
Thanks, Tom. Helpful insights and practices - your invitation resonates!
Allow me to share this substack which, hopefully, opens up other possibilities for practicing presence
.
https://open.substack.com/pub/rogerarendse/p/standing-together-in-awe-part-2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=ql0vi
.
Me musing:
Best points in music and poetry are nestled between vibrational pitch notes and between lexicon defined words. Too often we focus on the emptiness of doing mind tricks of busy-ness, making it our busy-ness to be busy, like human doings instead of human beings.
Am I first a doer of goodness? Or am I better off first attending to my potential of loving kindness? Am I being loving? Or am I busy doing some loving to-do list?
Poet first, then typist.
Be, then do.
Attend first to the floodlight mode of human context, then and only then attend to your spotlight of word-smithing talent and potential poetry.
I try to grok in fullness, but I am only an egg. I feel I must listen to the silence before barking my noise. Then the next silence, the next unknowing after the know-it-all yapping and doing, becomes a more beautiful silence.
Thanks, Tom.
mark spark
.