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Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. Becoming more mindful, then, entails attending to your own inner experience with full awareness and without judgment. Mentally, you take a step back from the stream of your thoughts and sensations, to gain a wider perspective on your thinking. With practice, you learn to observe the contents of your mind calmly, in a nonreactive way. You learn to accept a thought as just a thought. It’s simply an occurrence in your mind that arises, takes shape, and passes, much as a particular pattern among the clouds in the sky, then soon dissipates. In a state of mindfulness, it becomes possible to accept one’s thoughts – even negative thoughts – without acting on them or reacting to them emotionally.
Barbara Fredrickson
