Mindfulness has become an “on trend” buzz phrase in recent times; just try googling it and add a second word to it such as classes, courses, websites, blogs, books, magazines, coaches …… and you will instantly see what I mean. It seems to be “big business” and there is now something called the mindfulness market that is currently worth $2 BILLION in the US alone! Astonishing!

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.”

Sharon Salzburg

The quote from Sharon Salzburg reminds me of something that happens to me regularly and ties in with my thoughts about the “mindfulness” industry from my opening paragraph. Too often, when my wife and I have lunch together, 4 hours later in the evening when we think about what to have for supper I have no idea of what we had for lunch! I recall conversation, I recall watching the lunchtime news on TV ( not the BBC!), but I cannot remember what we ate. Other times I recall what we ate but don’t know whether I liked it or not, or what it tasted like. Was I actually present, absolutely not! This is a complete lack of basic mindfulness; guilty as charged. But ……. I’m not paying a few hundred quid for some bloke in an orange robe OR a business suit to tell me how to be mindful of each mouthful of food; I’ve got the message, now I’ll act on it.

“Be here now, be mindful today”

Categories: Buddha

Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, mindful, mindfulness