The 7 Attitudinal Foundations of Mindfulness

1. Non-Judging.

• Taking the stance of an impartial witness to your own experience.

• Noticing the stream of judging mind. Not trying to stop it just being a aware of it.

2. Patience.

• Letting things unfold in their own time.

• Practicing patience with ourselves.

• Being completely open to each moment, accepting its fullness, knowing that things will emerge in their own time.

3. Beginner's Mind.

• Too often we let our thinking and our beliefs about what we "know" stop us from seeing things as they really are.

• Cultivating  a mind that is willing to see everything as if it were the first time.'

• Being receptive to new possibilities. Not getting stuck in a rut of our own expertise.

• Each moment is new and unique and contains new and unique possibilities. Being willing to see those.

4. Trust.

• Developing a basic trust in yourself and your feelings.

• Trusting in your own authority and intuition, even if you make some 'mistakes' along the way.

• Honoring your feelings. Taking responsibility for yourself and your own well being.

5. Non-Striving.

• Meditation has no goal other than for you to be yourself.

• Paying attention to how you are right now; however that is. Just watch.

• The best way to achieve your own goals is to back off from striving and instead start to focus on carefully seeing and accepting things as they are. Moment by moment. With patience and regular practice, movement towards your goals will take place by itself.

• To be honest this one was (and still is) the hardest one for me. I naturally feel almost compelled to strive. I realized however, being present in the moment and focusing on the action of what is happening now, will take me to my goals naturally. You don't have to push to get there just allow your right action to take you there.

6. Acceptance.

• Seeing things as they actually are in the present. If you have a headache, accept that you have a headache.

• We often waste a lot of time and energy denying what is fact. We are trying to force situations to how we would like them to be. This creates more tension and prevents positive change from occurring.

• Now is the only time we have for anything. You have to accept yourself as you are before you can really experience change.

• S not passive; it does not mean you have to like everything and abandon your principles and values. It does not mean you havre to be resigned to tolerating things. It does not mean you should stop trying to break free of your own self-destructive habits or give up your desire to change and grow.

• Acceptance is a willingness to see things as they are. You are much more likely to know what to do and have inner conviction to act when you have a clear picture of has is actually happening.

7. Letting Go.

• Letting go is a way of letting things be, of accepting things as they are.

• We let things go and we just watch… A way of non-attachment.

• If we find it particularly difficult to let go of something because it has such a strong hold on our mind, we can direct our attention to what 'holding' feels like. Holding on is the opposite of letting go. Being willing to look at the ways we hold on shows a lot about its opposite.

• You already know how to let go… Every night when we go to sleep we let go.