The right—and WRONG—way to be mindful

So you’ve become a master of mindfulness. You’ve started meditating daily, and you’ve learned not to act on emotional impulse. But then you get hit with the idea for a new blog post or business plan. Do you act on those ‘good’ impulses, or do you fight to stay in the present moment as you’ve been training to do? 

One of the most unique qualities of humans is that we’re able to project ourselves into future situations. Theoretically, a better future. We can start ourselves on a path towards this future. How does this conflict, or support, the goal of staying in the present that mindfulness teaches us to do? 

“We would never want mindfulness to take away from this unique function of the human mind,” says Diana Winston of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. “You could have these brilliant ideas but you could have a lot of fear about them. But we can use mindfulness to work with our thoughts that cause suffering—and there are a lot of thoughts that cause suffering.”

She outlines equanimity and how one should use mindfulness to overcome the fear that may otherwise hold us back from executing our brilliant ideas. Mindfulness is not about stopping that aspect of our abilities at all. It’s the appropriate use of mindfulness when most needed that matters.

When you know your mind is really working in creative high gear, and don’t be afraid to follow those helpful thoughts, using mindfulness as a tool to keep you moving forward through any fear that arises in the pursuit of that new idea.

• • •

Join us for members-only access to Diana Winston and to many more of UCLA’s #1-ranked faculty ► westward.ucla.edu