#380 — The Roots of Attention
Making Sense with Sam Harris
The Goal of Mindfulness and Achieving Equanimity
Mindfulness aims to cultivate equanimity in the mind, reducing emotional reactivity to experiences perceived as pleasant or unpleasant. This equanimity allows for a natural state of tranquility and well-being, liberated from dependence on external circumstances or desires. Instead of grasping for future desires or fixating on past experiences, mindfulness encourages an open, relaxed, and positively valenced mind. The practice involves training attention to maintain this mindful state as a default, which requires consistent effort. Mind wandering and distractibility hinder this practice, often manifesting as rumination on the past or catastrophic thinking about the future. Mindfulness anchors us in the present, akin to maintaining an MP3 player on 'play' to experience life as it unfolds. Approximately 50% of our waking moments are spent distracted, thus necessitating mindfulness exercises to enhance our ability to remain present and engaged.
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