"The longer one does attend to a topic the more mastery of it one has. And the faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is [competent] if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence."
- William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890)
"Humans live in time but [God] destines them to eternity. He therefore wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point in time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience of what [God] has of reality as a whole: in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them."
- C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1942)
- William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890)
"Humans live in time but [God] destines them to eternity. He therefore wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point in time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience of what [God] has of reality as a whole: in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them."
- C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1942)
Many of us struggle with varying degrees of distraction and anxiety that prevent us from living in accordance with our deepest commitments and values. Students are expected to remain attentive in and out of class, and learn to manage the inevitable anxieties that come with school culture. But how? Evidence-based research suggests that habitual practicing of mindfulness can be a complementary or medicinally-free approach. In the face of the diverse definitions and approaches to mindfulness, how might a Christian approach the practice?
As I understand and practice it, mindfulness seeks to cultivate a way of life that is qualitatively open and self-consciously directed - aware, attentive, and responsive - in relationship to one's inner and outer experiences. And it is for all of us. Often we live our lives in greater or lesser degrees of unawareness, inattention, and reactivity that contribute to our anxiety, lack of focus and, ultimately, lack of flourishing.
In the waking moments of our inner and outer experience we encounter positive and negative thoughts, emotions, and experiences (stimuli) that we easily allow to distract us from living in the present moment in accordance with the vision and values we desire to guide and give shape to our lives.
Mindfulness aims to cultivate a way of life that allows us to inhabit the present moment such that we experience a greater fullness of what the moment invites us into. No matter our station in life, we all know too well that we live in a world of distraction and fragmentation due to our imbalanced use of technology and the felt demands that seemingly force us to multi-task and parse our lives into bits.
What is more, we are especially challenged in the face of negative experiences such as fear-based thoughts, unpleasant emotions, and difficult emotional encounters with others that often render us paralyzed. The paralysis comes, very often, because we have learned to react to these negative thoughts and emotions rather than notice them and respond to them non-judgmentally. Practicing mindfulness helps us respond to and reframe these experiences so that we avoid merely reacting to them from our over-learned and automatic patterns. Rather than react in fear, anger, or self-judgment to our negative experiences, practicing mindfulness allows us to create a space between the stimulus and what would be our uncontrolled, relatively mindless reaction. It is in that space that we learn to respond gently and gracefully, allowing us to embody the moment in accordance with our deepest values and desires, rather than live in a fear-based paralysis that undermines a life of joy, peace, and kingdom effectiveness that God would have us possess. In a word, practicing mindfulness allows us to live in greater freedom.
For the Christian, mindfulness helps us learn to exercise a life of joy, peace, gentleness, and self-control - all fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is borne out of a life surrendered to God and committed to greater conversion and intimacy with him - namely prayer. We adopt a posture toward our inner and outer experiences that finds Christ at the center of each of them. By cultivating the awareness that it is God with us (Immanuel) - what has classically been called "the practice of the presence of God," and "finding God in all things" - we can be open to whatever happens in our experience and ask what God would have us learn and how we can draw closer to him.
Mindfulness has certainly become en vogue these days, and therefore a proper reflection should be exercised in our appropriation of it. Yet it ought not be denied that there are more and more studies that are showing its positive emotional and physiological effects, especially with those who have more acute anxiety and attention struggles.
As regards a Christian appropriation, orthodox Christian psychologists/therapists and professors of Christian Spirituality and Formation have found mindfulness a valuable practice. One such noted professor is Jim Wilhoit of Wheaton College. You can find his brief and helpful explanation of mindfulness and its relation to prayer at his personal site. Other articles dedicated to the study can be found here, and here. Some helpful videos and other media can also be found here, here, here, and here. For a very helpful clinical description of the difference between reacting to and responding to our negative experiences, see here.*
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have more specific questions regarding mindfulness.
*Note: the views expressed in the resources linked above do not necessarily reflect my own.
Below you can listen to a talk I gave on Mindfulness at Church of the Resurrection's Transformation Intensive Program (an adaption of Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises). You can find out more at www.churchrez.org/transformation
As I understand and practice it, mindfulness seeks to cultivate a way of life that is qualitatively open and self-consciously directed - aware, attentive, and responsive - in relationship to one's inner and outer experiences. And it is for all of us. Often we live our lives in greater or lesser degrees of unawareness, inattention, and reactivity that contribute to our anxiety, lack of focus and, ultimately, lack of flourishing.
In the waking moments of our inner and outer experience we encounter positive and negative thoughts, emotions, and experiences (stimuli) that we easily allow to distract us from living in the present moment in accordance with the vision and values we desire to guide and give shape to our lives.
Mindfulness aims to cultivate a way of life that allows us to inhabit the present moment such that we experience a greater fullness of what the moment invites us into. No matter our station in life, we all know too well that we live in a world of distraction and fragmentation due to our imbalanced use of technology and the felt demands that seemingly force us to multi-task and parse our lives into bits.
What is more, we are especially challenged in the face of negative experiences such as fear-based thoughts, unpleasant emotions, and difficult emotional encounters with others that often render us paralyzed. The paralysis comes, very often, because we have learned to react to these negative thoughts and emotions rather than notice them and respond to them non-judgmentally. Practicing mindfulness helps us respond to and reframe these experiences so that we avoid merely reacting to them from our over-learned and automatic patterns. Rather than react in fear, anger, or self-judgment to our negative experiences, practicing mindfulness allows us to create a space between the stimulus and what would be our uncontrolled, relatively mindless reaction. It is in that space that we learn to respond gently and gracefully, allowing us to embody the moment in accordance with our deepest values and desires, rather than live in a fear-based paralysis that undermines a life of joy, peace, and kingdom effectiveness that God would have us possess. In a word, practicing mindfulness allows us to live in greater freedom.
For the Christian, mindfulness helps us learn to exercise a life of joy, peace, gentleness, and self-control - all fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is borne out of a life surrendered to God and committed to greater conversion and intimacy with him - namely prayer. We adopt a posture toward our inner and outer experiences that finds Christ at the center of each of them. By cultivating the awareness that it is God with us (Immanuel) - what has classically been called "the practice of the presence of God," and "finding God in all things" - we can be open to whatever happens in our experience and ask what God would have us learn and how we can draw closer to him.
Mindfulness has certainly become en vogue these days, and therefore a proper reflection should be exercised in our appropriation of it. Yet it ought not be denied that there are more and more studies that are showing its positive emotional and physiological effects, especially with those who have more acute anxiety and attention struggles.
As regards a Christian appropriation, orthodox Christian psychologists/therapists and professors of Christian Spirituality and Formation have found mindfulness a valuable practice. One such noted professor is Jim Wilhoit of Wheaton College. You can find his brief and helpful explanation of mindfulness and its relation to prayer at his personal site. Other articles dedicated to the study can be found here, and here. Some helpful videos and other media can also be found here, here, here, and here. For a very helpful clinical description of the difference between reacting to and responding to our negative experiences, see here.*
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have more specific questions regarding mindfulness.
*Note: the views expressed in the resources linked above do not necessarily reflect my own.
Below you can listen to a talk I gave on Mindfulness at Church of the Resurrection's Transformation Intensive Program (an adaption of Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises). You can find out more at www.churchrez.org/transformation
