Mindfulness

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”

RD Laing

In other words, be mindful.

“Mindfulness is a way of being aware of your actions and their consequences so that you can lead a productive life,” says Dr. Judith Orloff from UCLA who was quoted in an article in Womans Day.

Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez, arguable the two best athletes in golf and baseball, respectively, do it. I did a literature search on PubMed and came up with 15 articles published in 2006 on mindfulness. Topics included the effect of mindfulness on treating depression, suicide, stress reduction in nurses and nurses aids, and cancer.

The authors of one review concluded that the available literature “justifies a degree of optimism that mindfulness-based approaches will become helpful strategies to offer in the care of patients with a wide range of mental and physical health problems.”

7/15/06 19:03 JR