Aware or Mindful

A frozen bubble of air under sea ice on the local beach (temp -4C)

During a presentation last week, one participant constantly questioned the word mindful, saying it was simply awareness, was she right and is it worth thinking about?

The dictionary states that Awareness is 'knowledge or perception of a situation or fact', while Mindfulness is 'focusing one's awareness in the present moment while being concious of thoughts, feelings and emotions'.

So walking on the beach after a frost, I was aware of the ice under my feet, where the tide was, other people and what I could see, feel, in fact what all my senses were telling me. But seeing this bubble of air, captured in time triggered a whole range of responses. How amazing it looked, how was it formed, even being pleased I had my camera to capture it. To me this is the difference between mindfulness and awareness.

So it is worth thinking about, it is about being rather than doing, Awareness can happen by accident, being Mindful requires intention, practice, openness to our experiences whether pleasant or not. Having the camera with me wasn't an accident it was a concious thought, part of my own practice, having the tool that allows me to capture a moment in time. Then the thoughts and emotions, the wonder, were also part of the mindful process. Mindfulness allows me to engage fully with life, Awareness is simply noticing. Yes we may feel it better to be aware than unaware, but mindfulness in its fullness allows us to respond to what we face more effectively.

Resilience

Looking across Windemere to Langdale

Some good conversations recently about 'resilience', our capacity to 'bounce back', to recover quickly. Many businesses and public sector organisations have resilience strategies and plans in place to  enable services to continue when there has been a problem. Evidence shows that more than 50% of those companies without a plan will fail in the year after a problem.

You might wonder what this has to do with you? Simple really, what is your 'bounce back' strategy? How will you cope when (not if!) something goes wrong?

It could be the 'Resilience of Youth', we feel young, fit, able to take on the world, and so what if a plan doesn't work, we just do something else.

Or maybe it is the 'Resilience of Wisdom', the advantage of being an 'elder'. We've been there, done that, we know nothing is permanent, everything constantly changes, things hurt now but we'll cope.

But mindfulness allows us to do more than cope. It allows us to thrive, to get more out of life, even when it can be a struggle. My resilience plan involves finding big views, like the one above in Cumbria. It means recognising the early warning signs (a key part of any resilience plan), knowing when you feel less comfortable, more vulnerable or simply just a bit 'low'.

The key advantage of the 'naturally mindful' approach is that nature is all around us, we are part of nature, we don't need to dig out our 'resilience plan', we just have to be awake to our experience. Whether it is stroking a dog, smelling a flower, marvelling at the skein of geese flying overhead or simply appreciating the view, be in the moment. What is happening right now that we can appreciate?