Mindfulness Attitudes

Attitude Number Two: Patience

One of the things you will notice with meditation practices in the MBSR workshop is how much your mind will wander. One of the biggest misunderstandings about meditation is that we should be able to control this aspect of our minds—we believe that meditating should mean our minds are empty and quiet. This concept is so far from the truth. In fact, learning to notice, and be with, the wandering mind is the hallmark of mindfulness mediation. But to do so requires patience. As we learn to cultivate patience, we learn that mindfulness is not the absence of a wandering mind but it’s learning to say, “Oh, I’ve just realized I’ve not been focusing on my breathing. That’s okay. I see where my mind has gone and now I will gently, but firmly, bring my focus and awareness back to the breath.” And we do this over and over again—which, of course, requires patience.

Patience is also needed when unwanted thoughts or feelings arise. When we foster patience, we learn to allow those thoughts or feelings to just be there, without acting on them or trying to push them away. This is powerful because you’ll begin to notice that these unwanted thoughts and feelings tend to pass or dissipate on their own. Patience allows us to not become attached to them.

Stay tuned for the next blog where I talk to you about the third attitude: beginner’s mind.

Contact me to learn more about MBSR.