There’s lots out there about mindfulness these days. What is harder to find is good articles that describe what it is from a practical perspective, and how in a pragmatic sense it works. Post links and summaries of articles related to this here.
In this recent article in Tricycle Magazine, Andrew Olendzki, PhD, who is senior scholar at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and the Mind and Life Institute talks about differences between current popular views of mindfulness and more classical views, and how the latter cultivates equanimity. A blurb:
The mind is habitually caught up in some very deep reflexes of craving and aversion. Wanting what pleases us and wanting to do away with what causes us distress is part of a primordial operating system that has served all creatures on this earth quite well for aeons. Buddhism is pointing to an evolutionary step requiring us to abandon this reflex and replace it with a more mature mental state: equanimity. Classical mindfulness, unlike popular mindfulness, is all about the cultivation of equanimity. One is able to experience both pleasure and pain without clinging to anything in the world. One can be aware of what is gratifying and distressing, and still abide independent, not needing things to be other than they are.
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A link to a book rather than an article.
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hahn
This is where I started to peel the onion of ‘What is Mindfulness’.
Many books, CDs, courses, & articles later.
I’m still peeling.