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Originally Posted by Seagull
Good post Ajax. Meditating I find impossible, I just end up working through my to do list etc. in my head waiting for the kitchen timer I've set to go off so I can get up, anxiety normally making me jump out of my chair when it does because it's quite loud! 
Mindfulness in everyday life for bringing you out of your head on the other hand is a great tool, an awareness that we are not our thoughts, but that we're so often trapped in them, swimming round and round a stagnant pool of crap when we don't have to be. |
Thanks, Seagull. I'm similar regarding meditation. I have done it, and I often found it relaxing too, but I could rarely ever fully empty the mind. Mindfulness, or at least my understanding of it, means you don't even have to try to empty your mind. You can focus on the moment, but without battling with any thoughts that show up. Non-judgemental awareness lets you simply let those thoughts flow like leaves on a stream. No battle. No starting again and again to clear the mind. Awareness of thoughts without conflict with thoughts. You just gently re-focus on the moment.
The part of your post in bold is exactly how I use Mindfulness. Realising that I am not my thoughts was incredibly liberating. These days, my thoughts don't bother or hurt me at all. I just let them come and go whilst getting on with what's important in my life. The fact that I was stuck, stagnating within my own thoughts for over 4 decades now seems utterly bizarre to me.
I suppose the above is why I also found ACT suited me far more than CBT. ACT being Mindfulness-based and more inclined towards making room for thoughts and feelings rather than constantly evaluating them and being in conflict with those deemed 'negative' as in CBT.
But anyway, yes, you can be mindful anywhere. There is no need to meditate if we don't want to.