What is mindfulness? While meditation is a distinct spiritual exercise, the practice of mindfulness can be harder to pinpoint. Dr. Gregory Bottaro defines it in his book, The Mindful Catholic:

“A definition of mindfulness that we can work with is “paying attention to the present moment without judgement or criticism.” He goes on to write,

“We are created in the image of God, who is the infinite epitome of mindfulness. If mindfulness is awareness of the present moment, God is the present moment. He defined himself as “I am who I am.” God sees all as present moment, and it is our goal to see as he sees. We will never see all as he does, but we can see what we see with the light of the present moment.”

Is Mindfulness an Eastern Practice?

Meditation, mindfulness and yoga are often avoided by Christians who perceive them as Eastern practices. Dr. Bottaro writes about this question, as well.

You will come to learn that mindfulness does not mean turning off the thoughts in your mind, but using them as a door to greater awareness of yourself. This is actually one of the essential differences between Catholic mindfulness and Eastern-based forms of meditation. Many meditative practices seek to empty the mind of thought…emptying our minds of anything is not our goal. The very name of this practice is mindfulness. We want to fill our minds with reality.

And that reality is God — that God is in our lives, in all things.