Jon Kabit-Zinn has excellent CD’s on mindfulness available – and today, I noticed that Sounds True (books and cd’s) has a special on his work.  Just go here:  http: http://www.soundstrue.com/news/MARMIND/.

Basically, studying mindfulness allows anyone, at all times to simply become more aware of what’s “going on” inside his/her own mind.  Unless we know what is going on, it is impossible to go beyond simply being controlled by the thousands of random thoughts that dominate and bombard our minds throughout a single day.

However, it also helps to remember that it is not enough to simply become aware of our thoughts – it is to do so with a quality of compassion and forgiveness.  We can bring this quality to one another and ourselves for the human “dilemmas” we get caught in so often.  As we cultivate this practice within our own minds, we naturally extend it outward to others.

This mindfulness becomes ever more important as we age so that we can bring peace and gratitude to this process.  Aging is difficult enough without adding the additional burdens of self-recrimination and dealing badly with all of the physical challenges that come.  Mindfulness allows us to become softer and more accepting, as well as can lead to a deepening degree of wisdom and humor!