Mindfulness Dissolves Thoughts - Attention Is What’s Left Over, with Jon Kabat-Zinn | Big Think
Mindfulness Dissolves Thoughts - Attention Is What’s Left Over
Watch the newest video from Big Think: bigth.ink/NewVideo
Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: bigth.ink/Edge
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your brain is regularly inhibited by aversion, apprehension, greed, and fear. Mindfulness exercises can help change that. Medical professor and meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn explains how one can combat their aversion and, hopefully, become a better, more reasonable person in the meantime.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JON KABAT-ZINN:
Jon Kabat-Zinn is Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn was a student of Buddhist teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Zen Master Seung Sahn and a founding member of Cambridge Zen Center. His practice of yoga and studies with Buddhist teachers led him to integrate their teachings with those of science. He teaches mindfulness, which he says can help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain, and illness. The stress reduction program created by Kabat-Zinn, called Mindfulness-based stress reduction, is offered by medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT:
Jon Kabat-Zinn: When you sit down and observe your own mind on purpose just for fun as a kind of scientific inquiry into what drives you, it doesn’t take long, say if you focus on, say, the breath as the object of attention and you’re riding on the waves of your breathing. It doesn’t take long before you’ll notice that some kind of want comes up. Some kind of desire. And maybe it’s because your body’s uncomfortable. So maybe you just want to fidget a little or shift posture, you know, and just do it this way or that way. So it’s very hard to sit still. Why? Because we’re antsy. Why are we antsy? Because we want to be comfortable and we’re not comfortable. So rather than holding the discomfort in awareness because why should we privilege comfort? Comfort, discomfort - because there’s no ultimate comfort. That’s why we shift from one leg to the other and we’re very shifty. But if you actually train yourself to be embodied, you get less shifty. I mean the mind just naturally settles. The body naturally settles and you can be, like, comfortable. Just at home in your own skin. But when you’re not and you want something, we call that greed. I mean that’s like, you know, it’s greedy; it wants something. Now that one thing to just be comfortable, that’s fine. But when you start to watch the mind, you’ll notice that it’s got a lot of agendas on the greed spectrum.
I mean it’s - and greed is not quite the same as ambition. It has to do with - greed has to do with more for me. More of what I want for me. Then there’s this other thing that you’ll also notice, which is you’re sitting there and the opposite will come up. What I don’t want. What I’m afraid of. What I need to keep at the door. Keep at bay. To push away. And that’s collectively referred to as aversion or dislike or hatred, you know, when it’s really strong and directed often at other people or whatever. So we’ve got greed on one hand and it is toxic. The more you’re sucked into greed; the more egotistical you become; the more it’s all about me; the more you’re willing to lose your own ethical foundation to get a particular result only to find that even that result is not really satisfying so you’re on to the next result. And it’s a never-ending trajectory. But nevertheless, we have to admit it’s here all the time. It’s not like oh, I’ve transcended greed, you know. I don’t think we do transcend greed, but we can transform how we are in relationship to it. And with awareness that greed doesn’t have to run us. And even if it’s attenuated 5 or 10 percent - wow that would be its own form of liberation. Never mind 30 or 40 or 50 percent. And the same with the aversion. Like what I don’t want. It’s so bloody boring to sit here and watch my breathing.
All right. So what? Who thinks it’s boring? Have you looked at your boredom? So have you looked at your aversion? Then as soon as the you that’s looking at your aversion, that’s more like awareness. It’s like awareness of aversion isn’t diversive. Awareness of greed isn’t greedy. So you’re free already of those two toxic impulses. Then there’s another one, which is like the madness that passes for the scenario in our head. And that’s often spoken of as illusion or delusion. That we’re kind of like, got these completely half-baked explanations about everything and who we are and where things are going and what’s wrong with the world and...
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/videos/jon-kabat...
Пікірлер: 157
Want to get Smarter, Faster? Subscribe for DAILY videos: bigth.ink/GetSmarter
you are not your thoughts, you are the thoughts you choose to embrace
@sebastianmaharg
5 жыл бұрын
You are not your thoughts, period. That's the whole point.
@elsat904
5 жыл бұрын
@@sebastianmaharg since you can't totally kill the ego you might as well choose the right thoughts
@damodarpoudel6381
4 жыл бұрын
You are not your thoughts , you are not the thoughts you choose to embrace , you are the empty space between thoughts
@lisamanchalevi15
3 жыл бұрын
But where do they come from? winds? are there thoughts coming from within and thoughts coming from outside? It feels like it. though it might not be true. are we collectively generating them? why are some persistent in our pathways?
@elvisitor
2 жыл бұрын
its kind of contradiction in buddhism, since Buddha said that we are what we think. Makes me think at least ;)
mindfulness helped me get through clinical depression.
@Siikient4
8 жыл бұрын
+cjua2803 it honestly makes my day knowing mindfulness (and im guessing consistent meditation practice) has helped you get out of depression. I had depression and I managed to meditate my way out of it. While other factors did contribute, meditation and mindfulness was definitely contributed the most. Hope you stay out of depression and never have to go there again man!
@cjua2803
8 жыл бұрын
Shounak Joshi Thank you. I also agree meditating and understanding the underlying concept of thoughts and the mind only contributed to the solution but it was definitely the largest factor.
@OSRS_KQs
8 жыл бұрын
+cjua2803 Mindfulness got me depressed about the right things to be depressed about.
@Siikient4
8 жыл бұрын
+reetismatic care to expand on that?
@ovdtogt1
8 жыл бұрын
+cjua2803 I believe the easiest way out of depression is writing down ones thoughts. Helped me a lot.
Success is never guaranteed but there is reward for self-mastery of life. (Concentration, Analysis, Empathy…)
I've been practicing mindfulness for a couple of months now and i have to say the difference is pretty noticeable. Another thing i've notice is that it keeps getting better. As if my brain figured out what "the right direction" is. It really shows imo, that we've been raised wrong in this society not necessarily because of bad intentions, the people raising us simply didn't know better themselves.
@Dam13nL
7 жыл бұрын
Yeah it can be tricky but that's the proccess. Eventually that "second voice" will become a lower voice too. Give it some time and maybe look up other people's opinions about it. Allan Watts or Sam Harris are highly recomended. There are also different forms of meditation, whatever works for you.
@Jakeolivier1
7 жыл бұрын
Ive been on my meditation journey for a yr now, and i can tell you are quite mindful by the way you express yourself. I started meditation because i wanted to get control of my mind, but now i realize that what i truly wanted and will have is a flow state of mind.
@LivingChartz
5 жыл бұрын
Really helps reduce the thought chattering which often leads to bad decisions.
The awareness of free-flowing thoughts is the 3rd stage of meditation, and it's the most enlightening.
I owe Bill Moyers enormous gratitude for his PBS series "Healing and the Mind" (1993). That was my intro to Jon K-Z. Back then Jon said, "If you hope to really grow in strength and wisdom and bring healing into your life, you have to come to the realization that this moment is precious. And not only precious, but it’s wonderful, even if you’re in pain, in this moment.”
Wonderful, I need to listen to this every morning and every every evening too, thanks so much John Kabat Zin for explaining what our thought really so clearly. I love listening to Eckhart Tolle too, what a wonderful spiritual master.
As a person who has depression, this video gave me more insight and understand about why and how I should practice mindfulness. Thanks Jon and Big Think!
@khalidh3091
2 жыл бұрын
I hope you will recover soon dude, depression is a such terrible condition, I know what it is, I have been there, mindfulness has helped me a lot, but don't neglect to see a doctor too, you will recover more quickly and mindfulness will help you not fall back, a good practician is really a godsend.
I have attained profound insight into practical questions only after giving up thinking about them and falling asleep.
I am going to start mindfulness now.
Also better than Nivea or Vichy antiaging, he is 71. Btw the best thing I've ever made was to start meditating, it's the best way to deal with my OCD and life. Thank you Kabat without you I might not have known it.
Very nicely explained video. One more practical suggestion. . Reduce overthinking. Be careful what you feed your mind. Avoid comparing yourself with others, avoid storing bottled up emotions, reduce watching negative social media and avoid constipation as it affects the mind. Your breathing is closely related to the brain [mind] and gives relief from stress and overthinking. For a relaxed mind observe the sensations of your incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils and within the nostrils for 10-15 minutes or more. You can sit on a chair or lay down anywhere, be as still as possible, eyes closed but no deep breathing. Don’t fight your thoughts. Make it a lifetime habit to observe your breath before sleep, when travelling, when reading, at the workplace etc, if needed with eyes open. Best wishes--Counsellor.
@nigelstafford635
Жыл бұрын
Great advice
i like the idea of mind bubbles, thanks
Wonderful video! Learned so much + 3 new vocabulary words. One of my favorite videos on this channel.
I noticed that when I put my attention on a point in the center of the forehead, and just inside - there's no thoughts at all! It's quiet. Like in the eye of a storm. The thoughts are racing only if I am not aware of them. I even tried pinching (lightly) the bridge of the nose between thumb and middle finger, and placing the index in the center - it helps to keep attention there.
this is how ive always viewed my thoughts, less as I get older unfortunately. More stress making mindfulness harder, more taxing. I really liked the way that he was able to explain it, I dont think I could do it so well
Amazingly explained ...Totally loved it!!
I practiced mindfulness unknowingly since the age of 12.I was topper of the class.Everything was great until I got hit by those harmones ,started having mood swings,lost touch with reality,started identifying with someone else I was not.Not being mindful lately brought a lot of damage to my life.I even developed anxiety .Life sucks.Time to fight back.
I suffer from stressful thoughts, they manifest themselves physically as me biting my fingers and lips. I have been doing this for over 10 years but untraining the neural networks (which have become pretty strong by now) is a wonderful thought but I'm not making much headway :( Videos like this help me to keep trying though. I'm grateful for them.
@MelFinehout
7 жыл бұрын
If you're being mindful thinking "when is this mindfulness shit gonna kick in" then you're not quite there yet. Try feeling and accepting the feelings. If you can't do that, accept the lack of ability to accept it. Just experience what is gently and attentively. Even if what is is anxiety. Not try to correct the voice in your head, don't converse with it or argue. Just listen like you were listening to a radio. Gently observe. Don't rush, because rushing is not observation, it's judgement. But, if you can't help feeling rushed, experience THAT. There are infinite levels of regress possible. You can always accept something, even if it is your inability to accept anything. Sounds silly and circular but it really is how it works. Check out some Eckhart Tolle too.
@nagaleelalingam5213
4 жыл бұрын
You would wanna read about the primovascular system(it's now clearly researched),the fascia, the vagus nerve and how everything fits into the mind body connection you talked about.
@tedh79
7 ай бұрын
@@MelFinehout do you recommend any eckhart tolle in particular?
thankyou... so powerful.
nice... helped me look at it a different way....
Thanks for this video. The practice of mindfulness is such a great idea. There seems to be a lot of power in its simplicity. As someone who is almost constantly bombarded with, ehm, unhelpful thoughts, I really need to give it a try.
Just beautiful. pause at 4:43 where insight happens.
Brilliant awareness analogy!
This is the BEST one of them all!!!!
Thank you
This is fantastic!!👏✌
That clap moment at the end is exactly where I reside.
i think i have listened to this before, but it REALLY made sense this time. a eureka moment!
I want to monitor my thoughts but I always found myself unsuccessful. I've always carried away by them. Monitoring your thought when you are dreaming is much easier than doing it while awake. While awake, you are always distracted by your surrounding.
wow..and thanks
very true
Too awesome.
loved it
Yes, that what our subconsciousness does, making connections; which it reveals to us in moments of silence.
Interesting topic. Could this be related somehow to the focused and diffused modes of thinking for problem solving?
I can confirm this from my experience
Brilliant. This video is truly underrated.
I agree with the thoughts coming from nowhere. I practice Vipassana meditation, and I sometimes have moments that appear to be without thoughts. Then, 1 minute later, I catch myself following a train of thoughts for a few seconds. I can often trace the chain backwards, what was the association that made my mind go from one thought to another. But at a certain point, I stumble on what appears to be a thought that comes from nowhere. Nothing in my mind content can explain why this thought came to the surface. This is when I have to come to the conclusion that I don't have control over the arising of thoughts.
@guillaumebourgault5532
8 жыл бұрын
+Guillaume Bourgault And I also notice, like he explains, that if I don't "feed" the thought, if I just let it be, it will quickly loose steam and disappear. I spent lots of time to beat myself up thinking that having those thoughts was a sign that I was not focussed enough. I also tried to "actively ignore" the thought, but it did not bring me anywhere. Just observing without engaging is what gave me the best results.
@charlesjoseph7505
8 жыл бұрын
+Guillaume Bourgault yea, me too. The thoughts are like the answers in the window of the magic 8- balls, just floating up like bubbles. But they must come from somewhere, which must be our subconscious mind, like when we dream. So there is a meaning and a value to them as he said, or can be. Some need investigation.
I have been practicing it for decades. I do able to stop the steam of thoughts when I am meditating. Thought is only the surface level, the easiest to be controlled or observed. Then comes more difficult on emotion, then sensation, then the body signaling of it's own. You would learned that large part of you is not really you.
awesome
When it's said that we can't control our thoughts which types of thoughts are these? There are thoughts we can control. If I want to consciously think of eating a certain food I can do that. If I want to think or imagine myself being in a certain place I can do that.
love it
Mindfulness really works but my thoughts tell me its a ruse.
I have deep respect and great admiration for Dr. Kabat-Zinn. I noticed in this video that the left side of his face (forehead, and lower face), appear less wrinkled and have fewer lines than the right. I'm guessing he has suffered a minor stroke in the past, or maybe Bell's palsy, since both upper and lower face seem to be involved. I wish him all the best.
Está subtitulada al español. Ir a Options y ponerlo en español. The title of the video should be also in Spanish, so people now that it is subtitled. Thanks for translating!
I've had more profound insights than you can shake a stick at. Enlightenment isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Explaining mindfulness to people who don't have a meditative practice and have never achieved a meditative state, is like speaking in a foreign language to them. There has to be a better way. Thoughts anyone?
@JulieOwl
8 жыл бұрын
We should stop calling it mindfulness, because actually one let's go of the mind and its thoughts, thus creating lots of space - spaciousness. So the mind itself isn't "full" but instead it is empty; empty of hindrances to any insights that one is seeking. But yet, full of the present moment, oneness, serenity, the light.
@bapanada9446
8 ай бұрын
@@JulieOwl It comes from "minful" which means "aware", it means to become fully aware.
I was waiting to see the bubbles illustrate the concept.
Remember every time you will see a PUB about Mindfulness & Meditation. Meditation is ONLY one part of the skills that we must develop!! One !!!
This should be re-titled "meditation for those who don't know what meditation is"
Very interesting. But when he talked about having a big realization at the end, it seemed like he was talking about someone discovering a new scientific invention or something dramatic like that. I think stuff like that happens sometimes, but I think just the simple awareness that all these thoughts and emotions, and especially the imagination, is really not necessary and it's all actually pretty disturbing to the mind, and that the mind can just keep things very, very simple and find a sense of calmness and well being in basically just being alive and more or less sane, without all these crazy thoughts, and emotions, and images, drowning the mind. I think if someone can just realize that simple fact, that that is a big realization because it frees the mind up from all the drama and emotionality of all it's basically meaningless thoughts and emotions. That is the big realization. It doesn't have to be something dramatic like discovering a new scientific invention or something. It's actually a very quiet, simple thing I think.
I like when I say something and it repeats in my head like five times! My mind just does what it wants. What am I supposed to do with this thing?
@brentchackel8649
2 жыл бұрын
Ignore yourself and do 15 pushups
I had one of those moments... I think... I'm pretty sure I did... Once... Maybe.
Eckert toll he's got a lot of good stuff about this
@charlesjoseph7505
8 жыл бұрын
+Michael Carway no
@sebastianmaharg
5 жыл бұрын
He does, but he's a bit more academic in his insight. That, and he's a veeeeeery slow speaker. It can be a bit grating.
The question remains, if I am the observer of thughts, who am I who is the observer? Consciousness? Then, what is consciousness? Any mental answer is also a thought that can be observed.
Heya
Embrace thosewhose know the
Who'd like Jon Kabat-Zinn to be their grandad raise their hand :)
@Chebab-Chebab
5 жыл бұрын
No.
hi
😊
I think the transcription is wrong, when Jon said "Those thoughts are not me and they're not mind", the word mind sounds like mine, and the context looks like a Mine
A proper tea is hard to make. What you put in must be a good base. The water pure, the pot, clean. It must then be steeped for just the right amount of time. To long and it is bitter, not long enough and it is weak. U find thought more like this.
mind nomind mindless mindful please tell me your opinion how any of these differ.
@shizuwolf
8 жыл бұрын
Mindfulness is the ability to manage your thoughts
yea this man is definitely smoking some good stuff
@bsimms3686
3 жыл бұрын
That's a very mindless observation...and woefully unclever.
Eyes on the inside, not outside.
Most of our thoughts are just junk. Its a shame!
No it does not. Mindfulness helps you see the truth.
er i cant hear thoughts unless if i consciously make them.
@Arkhs
6 жыл бұрын
ILikeWeatherGuy yeh same here...i just assumed it was something to do with the resting network being different in aspergers or something.
He reminds me of Keith Richards,as though he could be Keith's brother,lol.
i see what you did there 5:20
You sure are screwed up. You CAN sweep away all your thoughts. In fact, my brother told me how you can fall asleep by pretending your mind is a black-board. And whenever you get a thought, just erase it. Eventually, you fall asleep. Mindfulness is being aware of everything in general. Attention is not a default status of your mind, from letting all your thoughts "out of the barn". Attention is an extra focus on the relevant things that you decided to pay attention to.
Day dreaming and over thinking or getting off the topic isnt good when your driving a truck with a b trailer
Distraction is the best form of mindfulness unless you're worried about something and then it is thought.
I'm still not sold on this. It's too woolly for me.
eckahart tole already talked about this. nothing new here. still good stuff
Hard to follow
Great video/talk, but I hate when people quote Einstein on topics that aren't physics. It gives weight to a subject he was not an expert on, because the name carries so much weight.
_Islamic prayer is the best of of mindfullness_
@0mnm
8 жыл бұрын
True.. Just deep mindfulness.. Reaching the epic by connecting with the creator, the source, and reaching ultimate level of submission coupled with deep love and hope..
@charlesjoseph7505
8 жыл бұрын
+Hussain Fahmy حسين فحمي I apologize for our fellow humans here that are hating on your faith and saying these vile things. I am a Jew. You and I both pray to the same G-d, and what could be more mindful than awareness of the presence of G-d? I find that the secular mindfulness meditation leads to a path to true intention in prayer. G-d bless.
@minnaaa7273
8 жыл бұрын
lol nice joke
@mr.quiltworth845
8 жыл бұрын
+Charles Joseph You can not apologize for someone else's behavior.
@charlesjoseph7505
8 жыл бұрын
thorin dyer fair enough
This guy has listened to a lot of Alan Watts.
im guessing you did not meditate to no mind. they actually stop. for very long periods of time. why if im not mistaken of those that i have noticed that could potentially have reached enlightenment there is a recurring phenomena that occurs. they lose track of vast stretches of time. for me it was 2 hours lost while meditating in horse stance. one second it was 1230 the next it was 230. more peculiar though was that i felt rejuvinated afterwards as if i had not been in a horse stance at all but just laying down at a beach watching the waves crash upon the shore. im guessing something definitely stopped at that point. but your right in so far as its pointless. its like denying half of yourself. the only people that might delight in such are the ascetics... and im not sure they can stay ascetics once they reach enlightenment. there is nothing wrong with thinking. like you said it drives innovation having thoughts. i like your bubbles analogy. most would make the statement i do not exist after supposedly reaching enlightenment. that was not my impression at all though. i was the water in the pot. the bubbles are my thoughts and the bubbles do not define me any more then the bubbles define the water. it is not actually self that ceases to exist it is the ego that ceases to exist and these are two different things.
einstein might have been smart but was he happy?
"POOF!"
Big "think" has just given up and embraced being a complete joke at this point.
Oh I dunno. 10mg of Valium washed down with a glass of vodka does it for me ..
Another scientific determinist preaching to us what every religious, racist, and socialist determinist holds as their core belief: our thoughts are not our thoughts, our behavior is not our behavior, life and reason and reality and freedom are merely illusions. What the highly intelligent but intellectually crippled determinists in academia never 'get' is that Self-mastery is a complete contradiction to the world-view of a determinist.
take LSD and smoke pot. LOTS OF IDEAS , LOTS OF BUBBLES....more parts of the brain talking to other parts that normally they dont talk to. 420 expand your mind. dont depress thoughts altogether with drinking or depression or "anti depressives" or mindfulness or meditation.... have thoughts and have fun, dude. and pass that thing already, Jesus....
nooo this guy not cool sorryy
loved it