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"Most of our suffering-physiological and physical, national and international is the direct or indirect
effect of of mindlessness" says Prof. Ellen Langer in her talk about Mindfulness. I have to admit that
this sounded like a sweeping statement to me at first and I was skeptical about adopting it. But my
first attempt at practicing the mindfulness exercise revealed the deeper sense of mindfulness and
helped me resolve an issue at work.
I met a colleague in the cafeteria and for a brief moment I noticed a change in my behavior. I
stopped and asked my self what I was doing and why I was doing it. I knew at that moment that just
one irrelevant socially uncomfortable situation with that person in the past had led my subconscious
mind to build an unfriendly image of the person. The feeling of being at unease when that person
was around had occupied my mind and dictated my interaction with the person.
I started a normal conversation and talked myself out of the awkard situation. I believe that being
mindful, reflecting on the situation and being in the moment, took away the burden of behaving
differently and freed me from an uneasy feeling.
I always considered reflection as a separate activity, an activity that required me to set time aside.
But now I realize that constant reflection and being in the moment is the best way of reflection.
However, I find it hard to be mindful all the time and have had to remind myself to be mindful. I
some times feel I have to put in extra effort to be mindful, so it depends on my energy levels for the
day. I occasionally find it useful to do some mundane tasks mindfully, it helps me free my mind
briefly and focus on one thing.
References:
LANGER, E. 2011. ADC Future Summit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YVAhbcWk1KA (Accessed on 9th
October 2012)
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