Yasu Kotera, academic lead for counselling and CBT, University of Derby Online Learning: There are several definitions but one of the most common one is 'it is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally'.
Kabat-Zinn calls it "paying attention on purpose, moment by moment, without judging".
It is defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who developed a stress-reduction course based on Buddhist meditation techniques in the late 1970s, as "paying attention on purpose moment by moment without judging".
It's suggested that teaching mindfulness as a way of "paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally" can lead to an unfortunate uncoupling of the approach from its ethical ground, especially in workplace settings where the prevailing culture may look a lot different from the 'right livelihood' of Buddhism.
Reams of studies have shown that training in paying attention – on purpose, in the moment, and with non-judgemental awareness – helps people free themselves from patterns of stress, negative thinking and impulsive behaviour, not to mention enriching their experience of life.
A modern explanation is that it means paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally, to the unfolding of experience, moment to moment.
Don't attract attention to yourself on purpose, just try to make yourself either bold or blended in.
They referred to Jon Kabat-Zinn's description of mindfulness to explain their three axioms—"paying attention (Attention) in a particular way (Attitude): on purpose (Intention), in the present moment, and non-judgementally" (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4).
As mentioned above, mindfulness has been defined as "a receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience" (Brown and Ryan 2003) or "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally" (Kabat-Zinn 1994, p. 4).
"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally".
