"How to Clear Your Mind" (Allure Magazine)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Andy Puddicombe (GetSomeHeadspace.com), Brooke Le Poer Trench (Allure.com, Oct. 2013 issue); ilanadonna (video)

Mind racing? Focus on something concrete -- like the sensation of touching something.
 

"Insider's Guide," p. 142 (Oct. 2013 issue)

The former Buddhist monk Puddicombe cofounded Get Some Headspace and is the author of Get Some Headspace: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day.

Everyone feels overwhelmed at some point... But what is the most profitable way to respond? We can react -- follow patterns dictated by habit, neurosis, or social conditioning. We can also respond purposefully, try a new way of coping, enter upon a mindful solution.

The thing is, we would first have to be aware. And the habit of bare awareness with clear comprehension (sati-sampajañña) is not the habit most of us have been developing. But it is the  good habit the Buddha recommended on the path to enlightenment.

Even on the path to mundane success, mindfulness is useful. There is no such thing as too much mindfulness. In the development of five crucial factors for success in meditation, there can be too much confidence (faith), there can be too much wisdom. One should temper the other. There can be too much energy, there can be too much concentration. These, too, should be balanced, one by the other. 

Definition
But the fifth, this sati, which we translate as "mindfulness" (bare awareness, thoughtless awareness, nonjudgmental awareness, vigilance, diligence, wakefulness, nondistractedness, effortless mono-tasking, nonforgetfulness, remembering to remember, childlike presence of mind or beginner's mind, etc.), cannot be overdone.

• Mindfulness has a separate meaning with which it should not be confused. "Recollection" or active-contemplation is the "memory" or remembering/bringing to mind side of "mindfulness." It is the turning, thinking over, pensively considering or "rotating" a theme in mind. This rotation (ratiocination, cogitation) is the actual meaning of the English word "meditation." The Buddhist word we commonly translate as "meditation" is bhavana, which has the much broader meaning of cultivation, development, or literally "bringing into being." There are three other words that might better be translated as "meditation" in this older English language sense -- janeti (from jhana, getting to "absorption"), kammatthana (field to be cultivated or worked or acted upon, from kamma, karma, one's meditation subject or theme), and anussati (pondering, recollecting, contemplating, from anu = "scrutiny" + sati = "mindfulness," i.e., long consideration or "consideration all the way around"). More

One is aware-and-clear as one goes about one's day, as one sits on a meditation cushion, as one thumbs through Allure and gets to page 142. Mr. Andy Puddicombe explains the rest, showing how just 10 minutes of practice a day can change a life.

(US.Macmillan.com) A former Buddhist monk with over 10 years of teaching experience, Puddicombe has been acknowledged as the UK's foremost mindfulness meditation expert. Like so many of his students, he began his own meditation practice as an ordinary, "busy" person with everyday concerns. He has since designed a program that fits neatly into a jam-packed daily routine proving that just 10 minutes a day can make a world of difference.

Beautiful Mindfulness

Is Allure good reading? Not really.

Body News: Beautified Minds 

(Allure/Lois B. Morris) Does plastic surgery actually make people happier? Yes... Ugh, actually it's hard to tell because we now cannot wipe these stupid expressions off our Botoxy faces.

Mood News: Open Minded

Can something as simple as twisting on a faucet or spinning the wheel on an iPod have a psychological impact? Hmm, let me hold my chin and scratch my head while I think about that. 

Body News: Mind, Body, Colds

(Allure/Kristin Sainani) Meditation and exercise help prevent colds and flu, research suggests. 

Mood News: Night Lights 

Does exposure to brightness at night affect your mind? 

Body News: Hunger Games 

A woman's mind-set while eating may influence her metabolism, surprising research has shown.

Mood News: Romance Risk

When women have romantic relationships on their mind, they're more likely to consider unhealthy ways of enhancing their appearance.

Mood News: Seeing More Clearly 

It's possible to improve your eyesight by changing your mind rather than your prescription. 

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Everyone knows fragrances [stink of chemical odorants and flavorants and pungent volatile organic compounds that harm the brain with excitotoxic effects. But did they know that...]