In this TED talk Andy Puddicombe takes us through the thought process and importance of mindfulness. Puddicombe is a mindfulness and meditation expert who has trained as a Buddhist monk. In the talk he uses very simple ways to explain how we get caught up in our thoughts and the effects of this. Can you imagine doing “nothing” for 10 minutes in a day?

What we like

• Puddicombe explains very simply how our minds easily distract us.  Through simple explanations he demystifies the aim of mindfulness 
• We like how Puddicombe uses juggling to demonstrate the thought patterns of the mind and relationship to mindfulness and meditation

Mind experience

• There are simple ways to stay mindful throughout your day with little effort. For instance, you can take a small amount of time to pause in between activities. Allow yourself to just be in the moment.
• When ending an activity just pause and simply connect with the moment you are in now. Try to let go of any thoughts of what you have done and try not to think of what you need to do next. Just pause and simply be in the moment.
  If you find it hard to connect with the moment, take a deep breath and concentrate on your breath. Or listen to the sounds around you. Look out the window or even better go outdoors. This allows you to connect into that precious resource “the now”. It also gives you the opportunity to leave any thoughts that has bothered you about the activity behind

To think about

• On average our minds are lost in thought for almost 47% of the time (quoted from Harvard research)
• Mind wandering is a direct cause of unhappiness
• We can’t change every little thing that happens to us in life. But we can change the way that we experience it

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