Mindlessness vs. Mindfulness

Mindfulness is defined as the clear seeing and non-judgemental acceptance of what is occurring in the present moment.

Mindlessness: Your day starts by harshly banging your hand on our alarm clock, pressing yourself out of bed with a groan. Then you head to the bathroom, undress and turn on the water in the shower. Immediately you start ruminating about work, your to do list and your extra annoying work colleague. By the time you turn of the shower you are thinking about the current project you are working on. Then having dried our hair half-heartedly and returned to our bedroom, you look at your bed and you wish you could just jump back into it. “Just a few more seconds peace of mind and relaxation!” you think and mindlessly put on your clothes and then dry your hair. Then you run to the kitchen, make yourself a coffee drink it in fast sips. You glance on your watch and your mind immediately sais: “Gosh, you are late for work!”. You run out of the kitchen, grab your keys and bang the door.

Mindfulness: The alarm bell rings. You consciously let it ring for another few times, carefully listening to the familiar sounds it makes and then you slowly open my eyes. Immediately the thought “Stupid work! Fuck this, I'd rather stay in bed!” pops into your mind. But instead of taking this thought too seriously and frowning you forehead and then engaging in similar thoughts, you decide to take a deep breath into your lower belly, stretch your arms and legs out on the bed. Then you roll yourself over and gently push yourself out of bed. Sitting there, aware of your body posture and your heart beat, you glance over to the window. Within seconds you observe the sky and the familiar tree standing in the street outside. Although it's summer, it has been raining and the sky is full of tiny grey clouds. The pink blossoms on the tree look purple today due to the cloudy sky. “Ah, again it's raining! For gods sake! It's summer!” your mind has to say. Fully acknowledging this thought without further engaging in it, you lift myself gently from my bed and then consciously feel you feet touching the carpet with each step towards your bathroom. Glancing into the mirror, you can see your sleepy eyes. “Gosh, how fucked up my hair looks in the morning! I wish I had shiny hair, but instead I look like Einstein!” your mind says. Instead of taking of immediately reacting to this thought and grabbing a brush, you pet your left arm lovingly with my right hand. I gentle smile follows. You then take off your clothes, feeling their texture touching your skin and then you turn on the shower switch. Before you step into the shower, you feel the warm water on your skin, checking wether it's the right temperature. You now observe the warm steam slowly blurring your vision. Then you step into your shower, grab the shampoo and pour it into your hand, smelling it mindfully. It smells of vanilla and strawberry. Then you consciously rub the shampoo into your hair, feeling your fingers massaging your head. Whenever a thought pops into your head such as: “Ah, I can't be bothered to work today! And my today Claudia is it, I am sure she will make annoying remark again!”you recall with awareness, that it wont help you to think about Claudia for the hundreds' morning in this year, but instead you decide to thank your mind for this comment and gently return to the sensations on your hand touching your scalp. After the shampoo is fully absorbed by your hair, you close your eyes and move your head right underneath the shower head, letting the warm water rinse away my shampoo and falling over my face. Then you turn off the shower and grab a bath towel recognizing it's extra soft, new texture. Drying your whole body, you am fully aware of your movements and whenever another thought pops your my mind, you just let it float by and return to the place where the towel now touches your body. Then you walk back to your bedroom and again glance out of the window. Some of the clouds have now passed the sky and the pink flower is now pink again. The bird has left. You consciously pick your clothes, making sure they match each other and dress yourself. Then you blow dry your hair, feeling the warm air floating through your hair, listening to the different sounds the blow dryer makes while you move it around your head. When you are finished you walk over to your kitchen and make yourself a cup of coffee. Then, holding the coffee cup on your lips you feel the warmth of the coffee on your mouth. You close your eyes and consciously smell the coffee. Then your mind says: “Gosh, you are late for work!" You thank your mind for that useful remark, taking another slow sip f coffee and then gently place the cup on the table, taking a deep breath into your lungs. Then you walk over to the door, grab your keys, carefully listening to the funny sounds they make and then you open the door, leave the flat and close the door gently behind yourself.