Kind Attention
Today’s mindfulness practice is not only about being connected to the present moment. It is about what prevents us from getting and staying connected.. Shauna Shapiro, a mindfulness researcher and mindfulness teacher, has emphasized in her definition of mindfulness the concept of “kind attention.”
Kind attention is a gentleness with one’s self and others. The Dalai Lama speaks about cultivating warm affection for one’s self and others. You can think of it as an easy stance…not easy to achieve…more a stance of being at ease. It means not fighting to prove you are superior, right, worthy, or good. It means accepting yourself where you are. It also means not examining the world for faults and deficits…instead looking to describe what you see in detail without judgment. It does not mean you refrain from assessing what needs to change, you can make judgments (or determinations) without being judgmental. Judgmental includes an element of derision or disgust that making a determination does not include. It means moving through the world with a sense of ease, knowing the world and people in in are profoundly flawed, but in a constant dynamic process of change. People are flawed and where they need to be in order to move ahead. If you develop this stance, you can see each moment of conflict as one of opportunity. But opportunities are not present where derision and judgment exist. Warmth and kind attention are the soil for development of one’s self as well as change in others.
Today’s mindfulness practice is designed to assist in cultivating an attitude of kind attention.
Please take a few minutes to watch or rewatch this TED Talk by Dr. Shauna Shapiro
Then, consider if your judgments are a valiant effort to make yourself ok or worthy. Know that you are exactly where you need to be. Just breathe, assess what you wish for the day and then adopt kind attention to yourself and others.
Peace-
Michele
