It Seems Too Simple

by Daron Larson

Mindful awareness is so deeply human that you really don’t need anyone to teach you how to do it.

Using it to develop empowering attention skills can be tricky on your own, though.

Why is this?

Some learning involves understanding concepts. Our initial confusion is replaced by gradually clearer mental models.

Other types of learning involve skill development: driving, playing an instrument, or speaking a new language.

It’s easy to assume you need to understand mindfulness before you experience it, but the understanding is experiential rather than conceptual.

Without direct experience, the impact of habitual mindfulness practice seems too simple to be beneficial.

When we try to understand mindfulness, it sounds like nothing more than stopping to smell the roses.

When we practice habitually, however, we come to realize that we’re constantly interfering with the moment-by-moment experience of being alive.

When moments are pleasant, we either miss them because we’re thinking about the past or future, or we undermine them by trying to make them even better or last longer.

When moments are unpleasant, we automatically allocate our attention to resolving whatever is leading to any physical discomfort, emotional pain, or uncertainty we’re experiencing.

Practicing mindfulness doesn’t mean we no longer address problems. We can actually get better at solving what can be solved by developing the capacity to inhabit uncomfortable moments more fully.

The relief involved is impossible to appreciate by trying to imagine it.

The only way to understand is to experience it.

The only way to experience it is to notice perceptions intentionally, briefly, and habitually without any agenda to interfere or fix them.

It’s as human as noticing an itch. It’s as counter-instinctual — and therefore difficult — as observing an itch as it builds to a peak and subsides without scratching.

It helps to have someone convince you such an odd-sounding pastime is worth exploring and that you’re not doing it wrong when you try.

The time will pass either way, but consistent mindfulness practice changes the way it passes.

We can develop the attention skills required to savor pleasant moments more, fight with unpleasant moments less, and recognize the humanity we share with everyone.