Being One-Mindful

I love strawberries. I can nibble on them all day long. There have been times when I have been engaged in other activities while eating strawberries. I may be sitting at the computer, typing away, blissfully chewing strawberries. As I munch away, with my attention on the computer and not on the strawberries, I am sometimes surprised and disappointed when […]

Fully Participating

Fully participating can be described as a state in which we are in the present moment, devoid of thoughts or anxiety about the past or the future. Fully participating is most closely associated with Baer’s “act with awareness” factor of the Five Factor Model of Mindfulness. To participate fully in any activity is to be aware in every moment, and […]

Mindful Describing

“Whatever you are doing, ask yourself, ‘What’s the state of my mind?’”– Dalai Lama, 1999 Mindful describing is a skill of mindfulness. Baer et al (2006) described five factors associated with mindfulness. These factors are: observe, describe, act with awareness, non-judge and non-react. These five factors can be measured by several instruments, and have been shown to be good predictors […]

Mindful Moments: Compassion

The first ‘C’ of mindful mood management is ‘compassion.’ Compassion is a re-examination of our core values by asking ourselves two questions, and answering honestly. The two questions are: Emotionally aggressive people are passionate people. We care deeply. By channeling that passion into compassion, we can live the lives we were meant to live by focusing on our intentions.

Mindful Observing

Mindful Observing begins by learning to pay attention to an object. Any object will do. In fact, the more mundane the object is, the better for practicing observing skills. The idea of observing is to be entirely present in the moment with the object being observed, using all of the senses. If you can engage senses ordinarily not associated with […]