A couple of days ago I got asked to be one of the features writers on “mindfulness’ for the blog for the Potential Buddha Community.

Dreaming of being a writer this was not a hard decision. An immediate “YES!” came to mind, as well as lots of stories. All stories were potential and were all waiting to be written down. Unfortunately most stories left my mind as fast as they came, but the one story that stayed around, was the “ultimate story”. In essence every once story, really. Happiness… “How to reach it” and “How to keep it”.

Throughout history people all have been looking for ways to find the answer to the ultimate goal of life. Most of the big philosophers and thinkers throughout history have all come up with a similar answer. They described the path to happiness.

Philosophers like Aristotle thought happiness is the ultimate goal of life. He argued that in order to meet happiness we use other things to get there.

We all do “things” in order to feel happy. We buy things, we eat, we sleep, we play, we date, etc. All we do is finding a way towards gaining happiness.

Unfortunately most things we gain (buying new clothes, moving houses or jobs, getting a new partner) are all temporary “solvers”. They give us a temporary state of happiness, leaving us wanting more all the time.

This is where mindfulness steps in. According to Buddhist teachings, mindfulness is an essential factor in the path to liberation. But what is mindfulness?

In written words mindfulness is a purposeful, non-judgmental, moment-to-moment awareness. Mindfulness can help us to not get lost in our thoughts. We begin to see and evaluate the impact of our thoughts. Mindfulness might be useful in mobilizing and transforming the universal longing in people for happiness, well being, resilience and peace of mind body & soul. 

There is an underlying paradox about mindfulness however. The paradox of mindfulness is in fact that mindfulness is not about achieving happiness or well being. Mindfulness is purposeless. Any purpose (to feel good, to be happy, to be healthy, to be less judgmental, etc) would only limit and individuals awareness.

In mindfulness the emphasis is on changing awareness of and relationship to thoughts, instead of changing the content of thoughts. The goal of mindfulness is to accept everything and any situation and to be fully aware of and have our attention in the presence.

Contradicting, this attention, awareness and acceptance leads to happiness and well being!!! Mindfulness is not about wanting to reach happiness and well being, but to be content and accepting the experience of what is happening now, what ever that might be. With this acceptance and contentment of what is, happiness and well being are experienced. Of course writing this down is easier than putting it to practice. However, it’s just a matter of conscious choice.

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Sometimes you don’t need the things you “need” to enjoy. Simple things can lead you to happiness.