“mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgment.”
We all have a tendency to judge things as good or bad. Our experiences as positive or negative, experiences that are neutral we generally don’t give special significance or importance. These are mostly those activities that we perform on autopilot or in which we are not present and aware of what we are doing. The moment of judgment is especially noticeable in our practice of meditation, when, for example, we need to focus on our breathing, thoughts such as: “This is very boring”, “Meditation is not for me” often occur. Then our judgmental mind knows how to take complete control and very often knows how to lead us into an even bigger whirlpool of negative thoughts, later on even unpleasant feelings and moods. How do we in Mindfulness practice relate to this tendency of our mind to constantly judge something?
First of all, it is important to notice our need to judge things, to have the need to evaluate our experiences as good or bad, and that this moment of judgment distracts us from the experience of being in the present moment. In Mindfulness practice, it is very important to notice the need of our mind to judge something and every time we notice this tendency, we guide our attention back to what we are doing in this moment. So instead of falling into a vicious circle of our thoughts and judgments about how things could have been different or what else we should be doing, we direct our attention to the breath in meditation or we focus on the things we are doing in the present. Noticing our tendency to judge constantly, but not being carried away by the need of our mind to continue that process of judgment, returning our attention back to the experience as it is, we practice our mindfulness.
