Joint attention is the state of shared awareness of self and other's attention, purposes, feelings and meanings in relation to a shared focus (to an object, action, event, experience or person).
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".
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'.
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.
These European architects found the building's attention to purpose and functional expression inspiring.
Early 20th-century European architects found inspiration in its attention to purpose and functional expression.
Mindfulness is a way of being and thinking that grows out of paying attention, on purpose and without judgment, to what is happening in the present moment.
