In conversation recently about what I am up to I encountered a comment along the lines of “well you’d better be mindful all the time if you are going to be teaching mindfulness.” That’s a lot of pressure. Quite clearly to me and those around me I’m not mindful 24/7– but I keeping practising, and I just as actively practice not beating myself up for my moments of mindlessness. Learning from my mistakes gives valuable insight and I can bring this to teaching.
I was reminded of something from our October retreat… how Rick Hanson refers to the ‘stages’ of mindfulness development (in psychology, known as the Hierarchy of Competence). The path is a winding one, allowed to unfold rather than rushed, but I found it helpful to think of stages in this way: Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence - the opposite of mindful awareness. We dwell more often in the past or the future than in the present. In this stage we can spend a lot of time caught up in unhelpful patterns of thought and action, unaware of their effects on us. Stage 2: Conscious incompetence - we start to become aware of these patterns as we begin practising mindfulness. This is a stage I am very familiar with, in which we are spectators to our own lapses, mindlessness-related disappointments and disasters. It can be pretty painful to be so conscious of our incompetence. ‘Retrospective awareness’ is a great source of insight in this stage, and self-compassion is crucial, as well as perseverance and the patience to begin again and again. This stage can last a long time, and we can move back and forth from it into… Stage 3: Conscious competence - as practising mindfulness becomes part of life we more often notice and allow our present-moment experience to unfold; we can step back from thoughts and feelings, seeing them more clearly for what they are (ever changing, less personal). In doing this we create more space to choose how to respond rather than react, which brings greater freedom. Ps There is also a fourth stage, of ‘unconscious competence’ when mindfulness becomes second nature, and effortless. Inspiring to think of this. I also remind myself it’s a journey not a destination.
0 Comments
|
AuthorI'm Claire - and I (re)learn something every day from practising and teaching mindfulness... Archives
March 2022
Categories |