Do you need to meditate to be mindful? Of course not

Not everyone who is mindful achieves that state (or trait) through meditation. If you take a look at the questions on the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), or Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS)*, you will probably note that some, if not many, people you know who would likely score high are not meditators.

While meditation can facilitate mindfulness, it sure doesn't always, and mindful people are not always those who meditate. That's why I have long appreciated the work of Dr. Ellen Langer who looks at mindfulness without meditation. She writes:

Mindfulness as we study it, however, is achieved without meditation. It is the simple process of noticing new things. When we notice new things about people or ideas that we think we know, we come to see that we didn't know them as well as we thought we did, and they become interesting again in the present. Everything is always changing and looks different from different perspectives. Since uncertainty is the rule, when we think we know, our mindlessness is in charge.

A very practical, everyday, approachable definition of mindfulness: noticing what is new.

Since I have become an iPhoneographer, I have been, using this definition, more mindful. Everyday I watch the sky, shadows, light, people, colors, plants, and much more to see what has changed. The shifts that occur throughout the day, each hour, even each minute, are seen by me, and I marvel.

I take photos, too. Some people think I take too many photos. When I asked someone if he wanted to see my shots of the mailman's footprints in the snow, he said, "You've lost your mind." I just smiled and said, "Nope, not at all."

What's new in your world today? Seen the mail carrier? Any prints left behind?

Click for other posts about Ellen Langer. Click for posts about mindfulness and photography.

*Other mindfulness assessments are described in this paper.

Image: My mailman's footprints.

Comments

[Heartandcraft.blogspot.com]

Stephanie, the process you describe is strikingly similar to sensory awareness exercises I use in workshops on using sensory description in stories. You can't build this type of reader magnet into stories without personal awareness. That is, you can't write about what you aren't aware of. By stretching your perception, then weaving it into story, you expand reader awareness. Everyone benefits.

[Julie Fleming]

I love this, Stephanie, especially that you show how the iPhone/digital connection can lead to mindfulness, not away. I find the same thing, especially since I'm always looking for my one amazing shot of the day. Through that lens (no pun intended) I notice so much more - the birds perched in the tree that towers over the Panera patio where I ate dinner yesterday, for instance. Sometimes my cell phone feels like an anchor, but as with any tool, it's all in the use. Thanks for prompting me to think about this!