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This is common misconception about mindfulness meditation. The goal of mindfulness meditation is not to quiet mind(though this happens with practice). It's to

This is common misconception about mindfulness meditation. The goal of mindfulness meditation is not to quiet mind(though this happens with practice). It's to learn how to notice when your mind is unquiet. So when you notice your mind wandering this is mindfulness. Imagine you're coding all day long, and then you have this moment where you notice that you're not paying attention to coding, but instead thinking about what it would be like to be a ninja. You might have been thinking about being a ninja for 5-10 minutes before you realized it. But this moment when you realize, oh hey I was thinking about something other that what I thought I was thinking about is a moment of mindfulness. And this is what you're practicing. So when you notice your mind wandering, be happy, this is a moment of mindfulness. Your mind was probably wandering for a while before you realized it, but this moment is the moment you realized it.

lifeformed 9y ago
What would mindful meditation be like then? Setting aside a moment to remind yourself to notice?
- joveian 9y ago
  I'm not sure about mindfulness meditation specifically or what exactly that even refers to, but some people use a mindfulness bell that is rung randomly a few times a day for exactly that purpose. One old form of mindfulness practice is to use breath changing from in to out or out to in as moments of mindfulness. See Centering in Zen Flesh Zen Bones translated by Paul Reps (from a document predating Buddhism): https://shivayashiva.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/centering-practices-112-ways-to-open-the-invisible-door-of-consciousness/ https://shivayashiva.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/centering-prac... There is also a kind of meditation practice called "just note gone" where the idea is to start giving absense of stimulation a distinct notice (by noticing when something you had been perceiving is no longer there). I think most sit down and meditate practices tend to focus on that kind of thing (feeling the absense of stimulation as a distinct thing) via different methods.
- JamesBarney 9y ago
  Most common forms of meditation are mindfulness meditations. A common form of meditation is focusing on your breath. This meditation is composed of two parts, trying to pay attention to breath, and noticing when your mind wanders. Most people think the most important portion of that exercise is focusing on breath. But in truth it's the second part, the noticing.. The first part is growing your attention, but the second part is practicing your mindfulness.

lifeformed 9y ago

What would mindful meditation be like then? Setting aside a moment to remind yourself to notice?

joveian 9y ago
I'm not sure about mindfulness meditation specifically or what exactly that even refers to, but some people use a mindfulness bell that is rung randomly a few times a day for exactly that purpose. One old form of mindfulness practice is to use breath changing from in to out or out to in as moments of mindfulness. See Centering in Zen Flesh Zen Bones translated by Paul Reps (from a document predating Buddhism): https://shivayashiva.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/centering-practices-112-ways-to-open-the-invisible-door-of-consciousness/ https://shivayashiva.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/centering-prac... There is also a kind of meditation practice called "just note gone" where the idea is to start giving absense of stimulation a distinct notice (by noticing when something you had been perceiving is no longer there). I think most sit down and meditate practices tend to focus on that kind of thing (feeling the absense of stimulation as a distinct thing) via different methods.
JamesBarney 9y ago
Most common forms of meditation are mindfulness meditations. A common form of meditation is focusing on your breath. This meditation is composed of two parts, trying to pay attention to breath, and noticing when your mind wanders. Most people think the most important portion of that exercise is focusing on breath. But in truth it's the second part, the noticing.. The first part is growing your attention, but the second part is practicing your mindfulness.