Mindfulness is a translation of a word that means awareness.
Most of the time our attention is not related to what is going on right in front of us and is instead taken over by the past (regrets or memories) or the future (planning or worries). Mindfulness is an intentional practice of attending to the present moment with an open, non-judgemental and caring attitude.
It is a very powerful tool that has changed my life, my wife’s life and the lives of many of the people I have worked with.
In December of 2014 Anderson Cooper of the news magazine show 60 Minutes participated in mindfulness training and interviewed others who learned the skill as well.
Transcription:
What is mindfulness? What does it mean to you?
I think it’s about, for me, finding inner peace and being very present in each moment. Seeing what’s right in front of you and understanding how you feel in that moment and taking the time to better recognize your feelings.
What it does for me is allow me to think about what I wanna do, as opposed to being impulsive about the next moment. It gives me a chance to think, but it’s milliseconds, it’s not like I sit there thinking about it. It gives me a chance to be aware of what I wanna do next.
Is it about not always thinking about the future? Not always worrying about the past, but trying to kind of …
Absolutely. Trying to connect with this minute, with you, just talking to you and not, well, what did I say next? What happens next? But what’s happening in this moment.
Trying to kind of quiet the narrative going on in your head.
It is what I say all the time, it’s like decreasing the noise and increasing the signal.
George, you use it in sports, right?
Yes.
When you talk to athletes, you talk to them about being in the zone.
Right.
When you work with the athletes, do you have athletes kind of look at you like, “What are you talking about? You want me to start meditating?”
No. Michael Jordan is … he’s very focused and they know that being mindful, being in the moment and like, say, when you’re in a high state of arousal, this is what separates the experts from the non-experts, is when you’re in a high state of arousal, your perception of what that means is well, if you’re a novice you say, “Okay, I’m in a high state of arousal, I’m in over my head, I can’t do it.” When the athletes know, like Michael Jordan knows that I’m in a high state of arousal, I’m in the right frame of mind to get into a flow. In other words, this is a challenge, it’s good.
Is that a moment of mindfulness? Being in the zone when you’re an athlete?
Yes. You’re disallowing things to happen and you’re just flowing with them.
How did you come to mindfulness?
I had a lot of chronic pain and I was coming out of recovery from substance abuse and I started learning how to deal with my chronic pain. That’s how I got into it.
It helped with your pain?
It helped with my pain, helped with my recovery. I’m coming up on 30 years clean.
You’re a veteran?
Yes.
Is this something which has helped you as a vet?
Oh, yes. This practice, I picked it up seriously after Vietnam and it’s my medication.
What do you mean?
If I wasn’t doing this, I would be on various kinds of meds.
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