What are you doing right now? Are you fully awake and aware of what you are doing? Hopefully you are reading this article; well that’s what I hope you are doing. Are you reading it on the computer, or have you printed it on paper. Are your thoughts with you or somewhere else? Meditation is mostly used to reduce the stress on our bodies, and help us to relax. There is another form of meditation. The meditation of mindfulness or an awakening of senses can be a source of calm strength.

The meditation for reducing stress composes mainly of going within, and shutting down the mind. This meditation requires a quiet mind, and a restful posture. The goal is to let your mind go. This is not let go into solving a problem, it’s to let go of the thinking part of your brain. We can do this either from anywhere from 10-20 minutes a day, just paying attention to your in/out breath.

Mediation for mindfulness is something a little different. If you are reading this article from the computer screen, then you will need to ask yourself some important questions. These questions form from your senses. Questions such as: What does the screen look like? How does the mouse fit your hand? Do the words on the screen jump out at you, or are you calmly reading for understanding? If you are reading this article on a piece of paper, think about the texture of the paper. What does it feel like? Are the words bold, black, or gray, or slightly black? Are you getting the picture?

This is what is happening in our fast paced world; we are moving through so fast that we forget to think, feel and sense anything as we go through our day. So, we must train our minds to become aware, and to become mindful. All that means is taking each situation, and experience it with our thoughts, our feelings and our hearts. Mindful meditation is training for this procedure.

In the paragraph above I asked you about how you were reading this article. That’s part of it, but we can and will go more in-depth to discover the process of mindful meditation. Think about an orange, and picture/visualize this round object. Feel the whole orange from the outside peeling, and all its little dimples. Are you there with me? Now let’s begin to peel away the outside skin. Do you have an orange that is thick skinned? How is the inside of the orange peeling? Are you seeing white and think strings from the peeling? Finish peeling the orange till you have the edible part in sections.

Now all that you have in front of you is the juicy membrane orange slices. Go ahead pick a slice up, and bite, or suck on it. Feel the juice squirt in your mouth. Take your time in eating the orange slice. Enjoy every bit of the slice, and then swallow it and feel it travel down your throat. You have just enjoyed a slice of orange, and an experience of mindfulness.
This is the perfect example of a mindful meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh uses an example of one of his favorite cookies in his book: The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation, and his book: The Present Moment. You are fully awake, and engaged in the activity that you are doing. You can do this with any type of chore, any type of food, and even driving. This too works to reduce your stress, and will be a great form of meditation in the work place. The important issue here is to learn to become mindful. By becoming mindful, we become peaceful. When we become peaceful we change the world one moment at a time.
Awakening to yourself, and your potential can be helped by being mindful. If we are to become mindful in the small things just think how easy the big things will become. Take the time, to do and experience life in mindfulness. This way, if you do have a young child you won’t leave them at school, in the car, or anywhere unsafe. By being mindful, you just might come up with a million dollar contract for those in business. For the rest of us, if we become mindful, we will stop and think about what we are about to do, and just maybe keep ourselves from hurting someone.

Meditation of mindfulness is a great way to break up our day. We may need a break, so we go obtain a latte, a cup of coffee, or a Coke ®. Whatever we do drink it slowly and savor every sip. Need to stop smoking? You could think about the puff you take, and follow it, smell it, before lighting and after lighting. Become one with that cigarette, and I bet it won’t take long before you quit. Practice makes us better. So let’s practice the meditation of mindfulness, and create a whole different world.