These attributes can help give a sense of what mindfulness is about. These are not a set of rules, more signposts to help support the practice of mindfulness.

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  • Non Judging
    • Staying with direct experience
    • Awareness of prejudice
    • Notice judgements and return to the reality of the present moment.

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  • Patience
    • To be able to stay with life as it is
    • The ability to bear difficulty
    • Understanding that life runs in cycles, truth of impermanence

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  • Beginners Mind
    • Open to experiences afresh, noticing mental ruts
    • Childlike, not childish
    • Uniqueness of each momen

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  • Trust
    • Trust you own experience, developing your own authority. No-one else can live your life.
    • Trust that life will be just as it is.

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  • Non-Striving
    • Developing being rather than doing.
    • Working with what is rather than what isn’t.

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  • Acceptance
    • Willingness to see things as they are. This encourages our natural wisdom to take the appropriate action.
    • Ceasing the eternal struggle with how life should be and just living it.

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  • Letting Go / Non Attachment
    • Softening, releasing our fearful grip on life. Giving up the addiction to struggle.
    • This is relaxation, not that everything is perfect, just that I don’t have to fight this any more.

Energy that is released from this struggle can be used in the present moment and life often feels better

A Definition of Mindfulness:

“Developing the capacity to experience the present moment as it really is.”

There will be a Day of Mindfulness in March 2009. Details to follow.

Welcome to The Horsham Sangha. This is the online presence of a group that meets once a week for a period of mindfulness meditation, and irregularly for other mindfulness based activities. Please feel free to comment or contact us if you would like to know more.