{"id":14177,"date":"2012-02-06T11:07:09","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T17:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=14177"},"modified":"2012-02-06T11:07:09","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T17:07:09","slug":"practicing-mindfulness-and-living-sustainably","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/practicing-mindfulness-and-living-sustainably\/","title":{"rendered":"Practicing Mindfulness and Living Sustainably"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"meditation<\/a><\/p>\n

Working to create a sustainable world hasn’t been easy. One reason for this is that people are highly capable of knowing something but acting as if they didn’t. It is epitomized by the attitude, “I know I should, but I don’t.” We know we should eat local<\/a>, bike more<\/a>, etc. etc., but so few of us actually live up to what we know.<\/p>\n

In Buddhism, there is a huge emphasis on the different between knowing something intellectually and having the kind of understanding that leads to insight and transformation. Once we have that insight, we are changed by it and there is no going back.<\/p>\n

So if we in the sustainability movement want to create this deeper type of understanding, we can see mere education won’t be enough. Instead, we can combine education about these issues with the practice of mindfulness that helps turn “mere ideas” into deep insight.<\/p>\n

Jon Kabat-Zinn<\/a>, professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts, describes mindfulness as “purposeful awareness.” A more traditional definition would be that practicing mindfulness means that we are strengthening our ability to focus attention while remaining relaxed and letting go of our attachments to ideas. When we develop this capacity, we can more easily let go of strongly held opinion in order to be open to new information.<\/p>\n

So how does one develop the kind of mindfulness that helps us let go of entrenched ideas? We start with basic mindfulness building exercises like “full awareness of breathing” and build toward exercises that help us see our deep interconnection with all beings and the planet.<\/p>\n

Here are some instruction for “full awareness of breathing.” You can try this yourself:<\/p>\n