Mindfulness as a Trait, State, Psychological Construct, and More
'Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.' -Buddha
As a term, Mindfulness is a little slippery. I'm willing to bet that if I were to ask a group of random people what it meant, I'd likely get a mix of responses. It's being considerate to others, one might say; it's paying attention to your surroundings, it's being aware of yourself and others – all different, yet at the same time all of these responses could easily be considered correct.
The concept of mindfulness – or sati as it's referred to in the Indian Pali language – is rooted in Buddhist traditions, where it is used together with meditation to cultivate wellness. It's a state of being nonjudgmentally attentive and aware of what's taking place in the present – a state that is most often achieved through the art of meditation.
What I find most interesting about mindfulness is that it has practical applications that are scientifically backed. The Buddha used it way back when as a tool to cultivate wellness; today, hundreds of years later, it's used to promote psychological wellness – not much has really changed. The mechanism for this is as shifty as the term itself, but research offers some key insights into its wellness promoting propensities. Psychologists from the University of Rochester were able to map mindfulness and correlate it to other measurable constructs (like neuroticism). Data from the study suggest mindfulness and neuroticism are mutually exclusive - meaning they typically aren't present (in high levels) in any one individual at the same time. The same has been found for connections between depression and mindfulness (and even anxiety and mindfulness). [1]
The implication here is – if we think of psychological wellness as the absence of depression, anxiety, and other negative psychological traits, then mindfulness works by somehow mitigating them – pretty cool stuff. More recent research has gone a little further, in finding a positive correlation between mindfulness and conscientiousness, a trait which is thought to be a good predictor of how hardworking or reliable someone is. [1:1]
This is all pretty compelling, but what makes mindfulness so shifty is – when these researchers measure mindfulness to compare it with other constructs, like conscientiousness and neuroticism, they're measuring it as a trait rather than a state, or tool. As a trait, mindfulness is inherent and rarely changing – as a tool, it's a means to reaching it's state. Pretty slippery stuff...
The good thing, or the takeaway here, is that mindfulness is genuinely good regardless of the context in which its used. So good in fact that psychologists and physicians use mindfulness-based practices to help patients with a number of mental ailments, including depression (MBCT), anxiety, stress (MBSR), and substance abuse (MBRP). So good that companies like Google and General Mills have implemented mindfulness-based wellness programs to help their employees shake the stresses of work. Mindfulness is an age old practice that's enduring, unpretentious, and fruitful.
One final tidbit about mindfulness is that, it as a state, has striking similarities to Mikhail Csíkszentmihályi's concept of flow – a state of intense (in the zone) concentration where a person is fully immersed in what they're doing. The key difference here is – mindfulness is characterized by constant redirecting of attention inwards, whereas flow simply emphasizes attention on a task (and not necessarily inwards). [1:2] While mindfulness is most often taught and attained through meditation, I think it's important to know it can also easily be obtained through tasks (e.g., jogging, yoga, tai chi, walking) – as long as you're non-judgmentally focused on your thoughts, sensations, or feelings that is. [1:3] So with that said, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start being mindful!.
