When Mindfulness Is A Trap
Attentiveness Overdose
Mindfulness means bringing attention to the present moment and live it to the fullest. It’s about having an authentic and conscious human experience that provides spiritual depth. But don’t get confused, we’re not talking here about spirituality in a religious way. Because Mindfulness is not a religion, but a relationship that you create with yourself. It is your sacred journey in search of your higher self. It’s the mystical experience of absolute trust and radical acceptance that you chose consciously and intentionally to have. And the best part? The beauty of this particular experience highlights the fact that there is no possibility of confusion or bewilderment. It is because all you can draw from this particular experience is anything but the truth. So, in other words, it’s the most perfect opportunity you have to come into contact with the present version of yourself. Which means that you cannot screw this up even if you try hard consciously… I say this seriously. Because once you decide to take this path to discover your authentic self you can only delve deeper into your core nature… But wait. There is something you need to know before you undertake this journey. Once that decision is taken, there is no turning back. So, think it over before you make the first step on this path. It’s the greatest possible opportunity you have to experience the authenticity of the present moment. Mindfulness is the most powerful tool I know to unlock your authentic self and discover the mystery of your individual essence. This peculiar state of consciousness is designed to liberate your power and experience truly your lifetime or lifetimes if you believe in the journey of souls… If you don’t believe in reincarnation focus on the life you’re living now… and live it to the fullest because you can only regret the chances you didn’t take.
how to practice mindfulness
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If you think that practicing mindfulness is about having a particular kind of experience you’re wrong. And if you believe that meditating in the lotus position all day long will make you permanently happy most probably you are deluding yourself. But hey, if that’s your goal, go for it. I’m not going to stop you or judge you. But in my personal opinion, that would be truly a waste of your time and energy. Besides, it’s not what mindfulness is about. In truth, it’s the opposite because practicing mindfulness means bringing attention to the present moment and acknowledging the reality while dedicating your whole life to meditation is pure escapism from reality. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that sometimes being disconnected from reality can be actually a good thing especially if you are going through a difficult time in life. When sh*t happens and the complexity of the situation starts to overwhelm you, disconnection from the reality and real world can be the only way to save your sanity. But we are talking here about a brain survival mechanism not about a conscious and deliberate decision. I think that from that point of view being mentally disconnected from the reality can be extremely helpful to survive a moment of unmanageable stress and anxiety. Because when the complexity of the situation starts to overwhelm you the only way not to go completely insane is to mentally travel in an alternate universe and relax for a bit. Besides, there is something incredibly beautiful in observing and feeling how your reality is melting around you…
Disconnected...
But still, we are talking here about a particular situation when a feeling of disconnect, indifferent, not caring, either way, helps us to survive. But this experience of momentous illusion passes usually a couple of minutes. However, when it comes to practicing mindfulness, meditation is indeed a powerful tool to regulate mood and understand emotions but it’s not the sole purpose of this practice. And if I’m being completely honest, for me increasing ability to regulate emotions through mindful meditation is more a positive side effect while the main goal is to develop particular kind of abilities like creating mindful attention and focus on my present experience. So meditation it’s a great tool to understand my own reality and shape my perspective and increase my ability to focus attention on a particular task in order to achieve a desirable goal. In other words, for me, mindful meditation is this simple strategy to develop a stronger and healthier relationship with myself and understand reality at a higher level. For me, it’s a simple strategy that helps me to achieve my goals. So, it’s not a way of living my life but one of the methods I use to achieve consistent results from my action. Meditation is not a lifestyle but a tool I use for personal development and self-improvement. It’s not about the spacing or escaping from reality. And it’s definitely not about developing an ability to change unpleasant emotions and annihilate difficult thoughts. Because that would be a total misconception and a complete denial of your own existence, which I don’t think is your goal. At least I assume that.
The Dark Side Of Mindfulness
You should know that Mindfulness practice has a dark side that is definitely not being discussed at all. There’s a common misconception that mindfulness is about having a particular kind of experience, an incredibly positive one. But if your ultimate goal is to increase your dopamine and serotonin to a dangerous level you have chosen the wrong method. Because practicing mindfulness is not about exploring the ecstatic state of being but about living your life to the fullest and developing self-awareness under even pretty sh*tty circumstances. It’s not about being perfect but about embracing your imperfections and use them to your advantage. It’s about taking a risk and having the courage to make mistakes in order to grow and evolve as a human being. Mindfulness is not about being an opportunist and adapting to a dominant trend. Mindfulness is not about being someone else or adapting to someone else’s mindset. Because if you dedicate your time and energy to be somebody who you’re not you will miss your opportunity to discover who you truly are. Life is about taking a risk, making mistakes, using your weaknesses to your advantage, shaping your perspective and going upstream. But still, it all has to be done in your own, unique way. You need to be true to yourself otherwise everything that you do doesn’t make any sense and will lead you to nowhere. Not to mention that it will be a great waste of time and energy. So be careful and pay attention because it’s your attention that determines all the experiences you have. Don’t fall into the trap of adapting to a dominant trend because you will lose yourself somewhere along the way.
The Big Picture
“Everyone is unique in their own special way.”
Just like every experience is a unique experience. Even if you have your own unique strategy, routine, some powerful habits and you do things in your own way every single experience is different. Just like snowflakes, no two life experiences can ever be the same anywhere and anytime in your lifetime. So if you think that you’re doing something always in exactly the same way you’re wrong. Because there is always some independent variable that determines an outcome. It’s true that your mindset determines your actions and the outcome but still, it’s not the only factor. Whether you like it or not there is still a lot of things you cannot control and each of them affect the outcome. That’s why forcing yourself to think positive in every situation even the most sh*tty one is just naive. No one can be always happy, positive and ecstatic unless there is some substance involved…
So if you think that practicing mindfulness will make you permanently happy and obnoxiously happy you’re falling into the trap. Because redirecting your attention to a given moment has nothing to do with escaping from reality. Furthermore, it’s exactly the opposite. Because the whole idea of being mindful is quite simple. It’s all about you and your life experiences. It’s about finding your own, unique way to experience your life in a pure and authentic way. It’s about unlocking your power and dancing in your essence. It’s about embracing the power of your truth and getting great pleasure from choosing your own path. It’s not about the destination but about the journey. And trust me every step and every second of your personal journey counts. There is no such thing as unnecessary experiences and unimportant feelings. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that every single experience is bloody beautiful and every emotion is incredibly pleasurable… because that would be foolish and incredibly naive. Not to mention that it would be far away from the truth about human nature and the nature of existence. Sometimes sh*t happens and we have to deal with it. But it’s not about what happened to you but about how you react on this. Sometimes life is a sequence of terrible misfortunes and really bad experiences but they all happen to help you understand something very important that you haven’t understood yet. All of this “sh*t that happened” happened for a reason. But this particular reason you have to find on your own. Nobody can help you to understand your life purpose except you and the ability to redirect your attention to any given moment is your opportunity to live your life to the fullest. And that’s it. That’s what this is all about. That’s the real meaning of Mindfulness… so take this chance and shape your destiny.
Stay positive
Be mindful
and live your life to the fullest
2 thoughts on “When Mindfulness Is A Trap”
I understand my life purpose but I still need more peace in my life. Mindfulness still seems like a mystery to me and I definitely have not had time to focus on anything but work and getting things together in my home life so we can move.
But understanding this is my goal.
I think that many people are confusing mindfulness with some kind of sacred knowledge which is why they find it so hard to practice it. While it’s all about increasing your ability to live in the present moment and appreciate it even if it’s not perfect… and usually it is not perfect at all… But still “the present moment” is the only one we truly have whether we like it or not. And instead of telling ourselves: “Ok, maybe it’s not perfect but I am grateful for who I am, what I have and what I can do” we constantly focus on what is not right. It may not be obvious but we tend to live in our past or think too much about our future completely forgetting that our life is “here and now”. And as a result, our life slips through our fingers… and then when we finally realize this it’s too late because you cannot turn back time and relive those moments… That’s why it is important to understand that we are not our past and we surely aren’t our future. Of course, I am not saying that our past experiences didn’t shape us or that we shouldn’t set future goals because that would be foolish. But at the same time, we should focus more on the present moment and try to live our life to the fullest. Which basically means that if you are happy let yourself to be happy and if you are sad don’t beat yourself up for these so-called “unwanted feelings”. There is no doubt that we all want to be happy as much as we want to avoid suffering but hey, that’s life. We shouldn’t forget that “Nobody Said It Would Be Easy, They Only Said It Would Be Worth It”. Besides everything happens for a reason especially difficult moments that are our chance to grow personally and learn some valuable life lessons. Having said that, for me practicing mindfulness is a powerful tool I use to unlock my authentic self. I learn to appreciate every single moment of my life because I don’t want to regret anything especially the things that I didn’t do. I truly believe that every single moment is precious and every single morning is our chance to start over and create the best version of yourself. Have a great day and take care! xx Kate