Common Definitions
Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Mindfulness can be thought of as moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness, cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, that is, in the present moment, as non-reactively, and as openheartedly as possible.”
“Mindfulness meditation is a consciousness discipline revolving around a particular way of paying attention in one’s life. It can be most simply described as the intentional cultivation of nonjudgmental moment-to-moment awareness.”
Diana Winston
Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, with openness and curiosity.
Willa Baker
Meditation refers to the cultivation of a way of being. Mindfulness refers to a faculty of attention employed and developed in the process of that cultivation.
Baker, Willa. The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom (p. 19). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
Loch Kelley: Deliberate versus Effortless
Deliberate mindfulness practice actively cultivates the attitude of lovingkindness, whereas in effortless mindfulness, we discover a natural lovingkindness that is already here.
Joseph Goldstein
On another level, and one which we don’t often associate with mindfulness, sati means “remembering,” and it refers to the practice of wholesome recollection that supports and energizes us on this path of awakening. In the texts, these recollections include the virtues of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, as well as one’s own generosity and ethical conduct.
Goldstein, Joseph. Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening (p. 14). Sounds True. Kindle Edition.
Jack Kornfield
Concentration is never a matter of force or coercion. You simply pick up the puppy again and return to reconnect with the here and now.
Kornfield, Jack. A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life (p. 56). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Adyashanti
Meditation is the art of allowing everything to simply be in the deepest possible way. In order to let everything be, we must let go of the effort to control and manipulate our experience—which means letting go of personal will.
Rumi
The Guesthouse
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Nyanaponika Thera
Bare Attention is the clear and singleminded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us, at the successive moments of perception…Attention or mindfulness is kept to a bare registering of the facts observed, without reacting to them by deed, speech or by mental comment which may be one of self-reference (like, dislike, etc), judgement or reflection.
Bishop [@bishopMindfulnessProposedOperational2004]
Working from a psychological perspective, Bishop and colleagues (2004) operationally defined mindfulness as the self-regulation of attention with a particular orientation towards qualities of curiosity, openness and acceptance.