Are you asleep?

For those of you who are familiar with the teachings of the Buddha, mindfulness is number seven of the Noble Eight-Fold Path practiced with the view to end suffering. We horizontologists are not so sadly convinced that this earthly existence is a veil of tears however. Life is not hard as is often proclaimed in certain pop-psych literature. Life is easy — if you want it to be.

Mindfulness is calm awareness, a type of conscious analysis, a turning to the present moment (awareness of breath, for example) and it is also remembering a thing to perform in the future (watching a flame, for example).

Mindfulness is practiced to develop awareness over time throughout the day by use of designated cues from the world around you. You go to an attitude of stabilized vigilance, you are called to reflect by your chosen signal whether it be crossing thresholds, birds in flight, the sound of bells.

What are we being mindful of? There is mindfulness of your surroundings, mindfulness of your body, and mindfulness of your thoughts. Each of these, the horizontologist mindfully considers: How do my surroundings, my body, my thoughts make me feel? Do they create my feelings after all?

Some advanced horizontologists develop mindfulness of a thought about a thought about an object. Yes, do try this at home.

Also, there is the concept of remembrance. Will you remember this day, this activity (mindful action) or this relaxation (mindful repose)? What would make you remember? Why will you forget this moment?