Dear Friends and Family,
the term ‘mindfulness’ seems to be used quite a lot in the last years esp. in ‘circles with a Buddhist affinity’.
It is obviously an English Word.
I’ve grown up in Germany and in German culture and language there is neither the Idea nor exact word for ‘mind’.
There are of course expressions for aspects of it like reasoning, common-sense, intellect, consciousness, soul, heart, spirit (for the latter there’s again no 1:1 expression/idea, the German word ‘Geist’ would literally translate into ‘ghost’ and can also mean ‘spirit’ and other ‘(non-)things’).
So, the word ‘mindfulness’ just didn’t tell me anything. But a friend of mine sort of has a Buddhist affinity and uses this word and is a native English speaker. So, last time I’ve met him I just asked him:
‘What does ‘mindfulness’ mean for you?’ And he replied:
‘Mindfulness? For me that’s being fully present in the now’.
Now, this is something that I can understand and relate to.
Funnily, I’ve said to myself later on:
‘But for me ‘being fully present in the now’ neither translates into mind or fullness, it translates into ‘no-mind’ and ‘emptiness’’.
So, instead of ‘mind/fullness’ I would say ‘no-mind/emptiness’.
Then today it came up that ‘mindfulness’ has just one ‘l’ and not two as in ‘fullness’ and that as a not native English speaker, I may have even confused ‘-fulness’ with ‘-fullness’.
So, it may be more a ‘word-play’ or ‘construct’ like ‘playfulness’, just instead of ‘play’ with ‘mind’ and therefore ‘mindfulness’.
Then again, as sometimes with ‘Buddhist terms’, I’m thinking:
‘When they mean ‘being fully present in the now’ why can’t they just say that?’
What does ‘mindfulness’ mean for you (given it ‘tells ya something’)?
Thank you very much,
With Shaolin Salute
Michael
the term ‘mindfulness’ seems to be used quite a lot in the last years esp. in ‘circles with a Buddhist affinity’.
It is obviously an English Word.
I’ve grown up in Germany and in German culture and language there is neither the Idea nor exact word for ‘mind’.
There are of course expressions for aspects of it like reasoning, common-sense, intellect, consciousness, soul, heart, spirit (for the latter there’s again no 1:1 expression/idea, the German word ‘Geist’ would literally translate into ‘ghost’ and can also mean ‘spirit’ and other ‘(non-)things’).
So, the word ‘mindfulness’ just didn’t tell me anything. But a friend of mine sort of has a Buddhist affinity and uses this word and is a native English speaker. So, last time I’ve met him I just asked him:
‘What does ‘mindfulness’ mean for you?’ And he replied:
‘Mindfulness? For me that’s being fully present in the now’.
Now, this is something that I can understand and relate to.
Funnily, I’ve said to myself later on:
‘But for me ‘being fully present in the now’ neither translates into mind or fullness, it translates into ‘no-mind’ and ‘emptiness’’.
So, instead of ‘mind/fullness’ I would say ‘no-mind/emptiness’.
Then today it came up that ‘mindfulness’ has just one ‘l’ and not two as in ‘fullness’ and that as a not native English speaker, I may have even confused ‘-fulness’ with ‘-fullness’.
So, it may be more a ‘word-play’ or ‘construct’ like ‘playfulness’, just instead of ‘play’ with ‘mind’ and therefore ‘mindfulness’.
Then again, as sometimes with ‘Buddhist terms’, I’m thinking:
‘When they mean ‘being fully present in the now’ why can’t they just say that?’
What does ‘mindfulness’ mean for you (given it ‘tells ya something’)?
Thank you very much,
With Shaolin Salute
Michael
Comment