16 Quotes by Ronald D. Siegel

Mindfulness is like having the freedom to point our camera at all sorts of interesting objects once we know how to focus it.

Mindfulness can help us all be less concerned with what happens to this me. Worries about my health, wealth, beauty, and self-esteem fall into perspective. Having a cold, the car breaking down, a bad hair day, and being afraid I just sounded like an idiot all become easier to bear. Becoming less preoccupied with me is a great relief – especially given what we know will inevitably happen to each of us.

Mindfulness also helps us loosen our painful preoccupation with “self.

The working definition of mindfulness that my colleagues and I find most helpful is awareness of present experience with acceptance.

2. Medical science has often ignored the power of the mind to affect the body. The idea that the mind and body have great influence on each other first fell out of favor during the 1500s. Scientists of the time began to think of the body as a sort of machine.

Even a casual observation of our minds reveals that we are compulsive thinkers.

Conventional treatments miss the real cause of most back trouble – they simply don’t address the stress and muscle pain problem. Most treatments also emphasize “taking it easy,” “trying not to hurt yourself,” or waiting for the pain to go away before resuming activity. Yet all the research and our experience with patients show that a quick return to unrestricted physical movement is the fastest and surest way to recovery.

I could use the practice to notice the trees as I walked to class, taste my food in the dining hall, and connect more intimately with my friends. I could watch thoughts and feelings come and go.

Mindfulness is singletasking.” It means being wholeheartedly present in our lives.