Mindfulness and Stories
In response to a question on a discussion list regarding what mindfulness is, of what use it might be...
One theory has it that we possess six senses: the five external organs and the mind, which provides input from memory and imagination. In this viewpoint, the brain can not tell inherently the difference between input from the mind and that from any other sense. Thus the realism of dreams, hallucinations, illusions.
Sensation delivers information to the brain. Perception is the initial conceptual interpretation of the information. These don't always agree as perception may include judgments or other filters. Information delivered from memory is already filtered, given meaning and connotations, distorted from the original reality by virtue of being the principle's version of that reality.
Emotion is a reaction to perception from any of the six senses. Last week I saw a squirrel hit by a car, left in the road with its little tail going up and down twice like a old pump handle. I felt saddened for the squirrel's end, brought on by the thought that it had been on its way from here to there and suddenly it was all done - something like that. The longer I considered it, the sadder I felt.
The event was a catalyst, but the impact came from my perception - the mental story I built from the incoming information. By dwelling on this story, I sustained and nurtured the accompanying emotion. The sadness hurt, yet even though I had seen a real event, the sadness came from my interpretation of that event. Thus, since the source of the emotion was internal, it might be possible to affect it.
Mindfulness is the act of consciously focusing on something. That thing can be within the mind, the body or out in the environment. We might say that it is being present-minded as opposed to absent-minded...:). When I was thinking about the squirrel, for instance, I wasn't paying much attention to the next few moments. I was lost in my story, not even consciously realizing I was lost in my story. I was reacting emotionally to a fantasy.
Applying mindfulness to my own thinking means to look at what I am thinking about and evaluate it - to observe the thinker. In this way I recognize the stories and can do a check on my emotional state: is it appropriate to the reality around me or is it a reaction to a illusion?
When I did this in the car after the squirrel tragedy, I looked around and saw that we had moved on. There was nothing dying at this moment within sight. I focused on the scene really in front of me and the emotion faded.
The premise here is that we don't recognize when we are responding to conceptual reality as opposed to actual reality. The squirrel died, I responded with sadness - all well and good. Reality ended there, though, and I kept going on a sort of imaginary sidetrack. Mindfulness is to recognize this, to re-center in reality. Absurdly simple concept, but quite effective since I can only think about one thing at a time with my conscious, rational mind.
One theory has it that we possess six senses: the five external organs and the mind, which provides input from memory and imagination. In this viewpoint, the brain can not tell inherently the difference between input from the mind and that from any other sense. Thus the realism of dreams, hallucinations, illusions.
Sensation delivers information to the brain. Perception is the initial conceptual interpretation of the information. These don't always agree as perception may include judgments or other filters. Information delivered from memory is already filtered, given meaning and connotations, distorted from the original reality by virtue of being the principle's version of that reality.
Emotion is a reaction to perception from any of the six senses. Last week I saw a squirrel hit by a car, left in the road with its little tail going up and down twice like a old pump handle. I felt saddened for the squirrel's end, brought on by the thought that it had been on its way from here to there and suddenly it was all done - something like that. The longer I considered it, the sadder I felt.
The event was a catalyst, but the impact came from my perception - the mental story I built from the incoming information. By dwelling on this story, I sustained and nurtured the accompanying emotion. The sadness hurt, yet even though I had seen a real event, the sadness came from my interpretation of that event. Thus, since the source of the emotion was internal, it might be possible to affect it.
Mindfulness is the act of consciously focusing on something. That thing can be within the mind, the body or out in the environment. We might say that it is being present-minded as opposed to absent-minded...:). When I was thinking about the squirrel, for instance, I wasn't paying much attention to the next few moments. I was lost in my story, not even consciously realizing I was lost in my story. I was reacting emotionally to a fantasy.
Applying mindfulness to my own thinking means to look at what I am thinking about and evaluate it - to observe the thinker. In this way I recognize the stories and can do a check on my emotional state: is it appropriate to the reality around me or is it a reaction to a illusion?
When I did this in the car after the squirrel tragedy, I looked around and saw that we had moved on. There was nothing dying at this moment within sight. I focused on the scene really in front of me and the emotion faded.
The premise here is that we don't recognize when we are responding to conceptual reality as opposed to actual reality. The squirrel died, I responded with sadness - all well and good. Reality ended there, though, and I kept going on a sort of imaginary sidetrack. Mindfulness is to recognize this, to re-center in reality. Absurdly simple concept, but quite effective since I can only think about one thing at a time with my conscious, rational mind.
posted by Darrell G. King
| 1:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home