The Power of MINDFULNESS
The Art and Science of MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is the intentional and objective focus of one's attention on the thoughts and feelings occurring in the present moment. Mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience - instead of letting your life pass you by.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Fishing in acrylic by the author, 2014. Analyze the painting and list down your observations or awareness on the details of the scene. Imagine yourself to be
in the scene and reflect on the applications of mindfulness.
Lesson: Go over these twenty applications of mindfulness and add your own thoughts and experiences in each item. This is a very good material for workshops, for the school, or simply in ordinary conversation.
The art and science of mindfulness and its applications:
The art and science of mindfulness and its applications:
1. Mindfulness leads to discovery
Alexander Fleming "accidentally" discovered Penicillin. We call such
discovery as serendipity. Had he thrown the "contaminated" culture, he
could have missed the greenish mass of green molds consuming the
could have missed the greenish mass of green molds consuming the
colony of bacteria in a petri dish.
2. Avoidance of embarrassment
Watch your language, please. Don't enter through the exit door. Your t-shirt
is reversed. Avoid sudden outburst - laughter or anger. Don't clap in the
middle of a concert.
3. Prevention of accidents.
Stop, look and listen before you cross. Always be alert when driving. Be
mindful in the use tools in the kitchen, workshop, and garden.
4. Keeping with good health
You forgot your medicine. You ate too much of the restricted food. Don't
overwork. Don't carry more than your body's weight - much less if you are a
senior citizen. It's flu month, stay home as much as possible.
5. Enhancement of learning
Be keen with the lecture. Read aloud, specially poetry, to have the real
experience of reciting. Give full attention to details, don't skip pages. The
more senses you use, the more you learn and the longer you keep them in
your memory.
6. Tool in critical thinking
Acronym AJA - Analysis, Judgment, Action- in this order. Don't interchange
the two A's. Study your case well, or else you may lose your case in court.
How did Hemingway end The Old Man and the Sea to drive his theme and
message in just a few pages?
7. Tool in decision making
Related to the above - tool in critical thinking - postpone making decision if you are not well prepared. Take a weekend break. Mindfulness is relaxation. Never make decisions when you are stressed.
8. Keenness of events and happenings
The chandelier appears to be swaying. Earthquake? Or you are not feeling well?
You freeze in the middle of an accident. Don't be a victim of budol-budol. Know the fire exit, stairway, elevator when checking in a hotel.
9. Deciphering reality from fantasy
Analyze make-believe stories. Telenovelas are usually embellished. But fiction can be symbolic of reality. Fictions may be advanced ideas. Or simply myths.
10. Enlightenment between truth and falsehood
You know if a person is lying. Too bad, the fellow is an actor. Mindfulness gives you time to analyze. He avoids eye-to-eye contact. He has the Pinocchio syndrome, rubbing his nose now and then. Or a tear jerker (crocodile's tears).
11. Development of personality
How's your grooming? You poise, stride, posture. Beard stubs don't fit your attire and occasion. Formal dress can't go with rubber shoes, even if the shoes cost more.
12. Expression of values
Say: Excuse me. Thank you. Beg your pardon? Say, Best wishes to the bride, congratulations to the groom. Read Julie Yap Daza's small book, Manners for Growing Up. Follow etiquettes in social media.
13. Enhancement of good relationship
You forgot the birthday of you loved ones. Worse you greet the wrong fellow. Recognize your audience, specially the VIPs. Don't flatter too far, it is embarrassing or courting trouble. Mindfulness preserves friendship.
14. Reduction of anxiety, tension and stress
The term "mindfulness" is derived from the Pali-term sati, "mindfulness", which is an essential element of Buddhist practice. It has been popularized in the West by Jon Kabat-Zinn with his mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program. Mindfulness is also an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being.
15. Preserving institutions and society
Mindfulness keeps you in touch with your community. Participate in the programs and projects of your barangay. The integrity of our institutions lies greatly in people's active participation. You are mindful of electoral process, banking system, K-to12 program, justice system, etc. And if you must press for reform, you must. Mindfulness leads to the expression rights and privileges.
16. Closeness to nature (naturalism, green thumb)
Beethoven composed Pastoral on the meadow, Grieg's Morning at sunrise, Abelardo's Mutya ng Pasig by the beautiful Pasig River then. Darwin "followed" Nature in his four-year voyage on a research ship, Beagle, to formulate his theory of evolution which he later wrote into a book, Origin of the Species through Natural Selection.
Light Through the Treetops in acrylic by the author 2024
17. Closeness to the Creator
Handel wrote Alleluia Chorus in seclusion and on emerging a week after, confessed he saw God in his music. Have you had your retreat lately? Do you compose your prayers personally? Do you believe in miracles? Mother Teresa claimed of the apparition of St. Gabriel. The miracle at Fatima was witnessed by young children. Which means mindfulness may start early in life. Are prodigies the products of early mindfulness?
18. Interdisciplinary and holistic scholarship
Team work is key to winning. Mindfulness is both practiced invividually and as a team. Observe a team of surgery doctors and nurses work in the operating room. Mindfulness is cultivating the eight realms of intelligence and this is a lifetime experience.
19. Awareness of the wholeness of the human being
The human being is not a robot, it is whole. Holism as an important subject in mindfulness application in natural and social sciences. Models to this human attribute are Gandhi, Rizal and Mandela
20. Road to peace of mind
Anent to the awareness of the wholeness of the human being, is the aim of every person to have peace of mind. POM has four attributes: mental or intellectual, emotional or psychological, physical, and spiritual. We may find it difficult to maintain a "perfect square" every day, but we must always aim at it. For there is no true happiness in this world without Peace of Mind. ~
----------------* Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
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