Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 6 MindBrained Bulletin Think Tank V4i6 Mindfulness | Page 8

OK, but we can’t send dried fruit along with this Think Tank. How can we share an
experience with you, the readers?
It occurred to me that cartoons might be a way. You can experience the feelings
viscerally and, I hope, get a better understanding of mindfulness. One problem is
that I don’t have the rights to reprint the cartoons here. But they are all easily
available on the internet (Click the title or box). So I’ll describe the cartoons here.
Then I’ll tell you how I think they are connected.
Link #1. Two monks
A Gahan Wilson cartoon.
We see two Buddhist monks
sitting in meditation. The
young novice monk looks
frustrated. The older monk
is saying, “Nothing happens
next. This is it.”
Click here or search for:
gahan wilson monks this is
it
Mindfulness really is noticing what is happening. It is
not “emptying your mind.” It really is being in the
moment. There is no “flash of consciousness.” You
focus on something, usually the breath. It isn’t a
matter of feeling any special way. You just feel what
you feel.
If you were to close your eyes and breathe slowly,
perhaps counting to five each time you exhale and
inhale, that is the start of experiencing it.
Nothing happens next.
By the way, two of the three cartoons feature Buddhist monks, probably because they
are a near universal image of meditation. Mindfulness, as we are discussing it in this
issue, has no connection to religion. As Dr. Amy Saltzman said, “One does not need
to be Buddhist to pay attention in this way, any more than one needs to be Italian to
enjoy pizza.”
#2 Overthinking
Overthinking, often rumination (mentally recycling
negative thoughts), is common. We spend time
thinking about the past. Or worrying about the
future. We are often anywhere but the present.
Mindfulness is practice being in the present. Harris
(2014) mentions his own doubting conversation with
mindfulness expert Joseph Goldstein: “How can you
advise us not to worry about the things we have to
do… If I miss my plane, that’s a genuine problem.
These are not just irrelevant thoughts.”
An Alex Gregory cartoon.
1. A businessman is working at
his desk, thinking about golf.
2. Now he is playing golf,
thinking about sex.
3. Now he is having sex, thinking
about being at work.
Click here or search for: alex
gregory work golf sex
“Fair enough,” he (Goldstein) concedes. “But when
you find yourself running through your trip to the airport for the seventeenth time,
perhaps ask yourself the following question: ‘Is this useful’?”
#3 Ice Cream