Dear efendi:

We can live in the moment when we do activities that require our full attention, activities that are not automatic for us (like driving a car), such as learning a new skill, and even watching a suspense movie, a passive activity.

Living meditation, or Mindfulness, is about performing the automatic activities with attention to what we are doing. For example, washing dishes, paying attention to the sound the dishes and the water make, the feel of the soap and the warm water on our hands.

So two things: there are activities, as you know, that by their nature require our attention. And then Mindfulness can be practiced for activities we do automatically, activities that don’t require our attention.

As in meditation, in the practice of mindfulness, your mind will drift to the past and future automatically. The practice is about bringing your attention gently to the present moment, to the experience of the present moment with your five senses, again and again. It is important not to see focus on the present as performance and judge your success or failure, but to accept that the mind will drift, as is its nature, and then patiently and gently bring the focus back to the present.

anita