Mindfulness is a spontaneous and natural state. The practice of mindfulness, or awareness of the present moment, allows us to stop thinking and get out of the tyranny and routine of our thoughts, and it also shows how to think with more resources.

Have you ever woken up in the morning (without a hangover!) In a lucid waking state and for a few seconds without knowing where you are or what day it is or what you are doing that day? Just a momentary emptiness, your mind feels like a blank slate, and then thoughts, a bit like throwing a big thick sweater over your head and then, with a jolt, everything is “normal” again.

Every time you climb a steep staircase, or a rock wall, or drive a car at high speed or do some physical activity in which there is some degree of danger, have you noticed afterwards how you forgot everything except your 100% concentration fully in the present moment?

Or maybe on a calmer level, can you recall how it feels for a few seconds after you’ve stopped being involved in any all-encompassing activity that has absorbed your attention 100%? That clear feeling without thoughts.

Perhaps it has happened when you have been outdoors in a wild, remote or natural environment and have become completely still and have been aware of feeling at one with beauty, madness and splendor.

These are all normal experiences, of the “everyday” type, in which our thoughts do not affect us and in which we are fully present. These are natural states of mindfulness or present moment awareness.

Being free from our thoughts, free from the incessant chatter in our heads, free from the endless grinding of the wheels of repetitive thoughts feels spacious and light.

Mindfulness practice is simply a series of disciplines and structured mental habits that take those natural and spontaneous occurrences of present moment awareness and bring them under conscious control and, in doing so, make that freedom more possible, more frequent. and eventually available when we need it. that.

In that state, time stands still, or we cease to be aware of it, the habitual sense of separation and duality weakens or disappears, perceptions occur more frequently, and intuition and creativity become stronger.

Mindfulness shows us how to think and how to stop thinking. By these criteria, mindfulness is a necessary and powerful tool in dealing with tough times.