Core Features of Mindfulness

Selected Passages from the Ebook: A Guide to Mindfulness by Vanessa Canedo, LCSWR

Mindfulness is the practice of being present and fully engaged in the 'here and now,' contrasting with the automatic pilot mode where the mind wanders during routine tasks. This practice can help individuals break free from unhelpful, automatic thinking patterns and develop healthier mental habits. For those struggling with emotional issues, mindfulness doesn't aim to control or eliminate unpleasant experiences but rather to improve one's ability to not get caught up in negative thoughts about the past, future, or self.

Here are six core features of mindfulness:

Observing

The first key aspect of mindfulness is to observe your experiences directly through your senses rather than analyzing them. The mind naturally tends to think about experiences instead of directly feeling them. Mindfulness aims to shift your focus from thinking to simply observing thoughts, feelings, and body sensations with kind and gentle curiosity.

Describing

This aspect of mindfulness relates to noticing the very fine details of what you are observing. For example, if you are observing something like a tangerine, the aim is to describe what it looks like, what its shape, color, and texture is. You might place a descriptive name to it, like 'orange', 'smooth', or round. The same process also can be applied to emotions.

Fully Participating 

An aim of mindfulness is to allow yourself to consider The whole of your experience, without excluding anything. Try to notice all aspects of whatever task or activity you are doing, and do it with your full care and attention.

Being Non-judgemental

It's important to accept your experiences. Prolonged emotional distress often comes from trying to avoid or control them. Mindfulness involves not judging experiences as good, bad, right, or wrong, and not trying to control or avoid them. This acceptance is challenging and requires time and practice. Adopting a kind and gentle curiosity towards your experiences helps maintain a non-judgmental stance.

Focusing on One Thing at a Time

When observing your own experience, a certain level of effort is required to focus your attention on only one thing at a time, from moment to moment. It is natural for distracting thoughts to emerge while observing and there is a tendency to follow and 'chase' these thoughts with more thinking. The art of being 'present' is to develop the skill of noticing when you have drifted away from the observing and sensing mode, into thinking mode. When this happens it is not a mistake, but just acknowledge it has happened, and then gently return to observing your experience.

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