None of us are immune to its sting.  It is a universal human condition.  It comes in different guises and flavours.

Some experience it in the form of a genetic condition, a physical disease, others in the form of betrayal or an existential void. For others, it is consumed with an addiction or a destructive habit For others, it comes in the way we relate to and perceive our world.

For others, it comes in the form of a tragic accident or a loss.   For others, it is in the form of entrapment in a cultural, social or religious construct. For others, it appears in the form misfortune or misguided direction.

Each of us responds differently, some in denial, others, with confrontation, others with avoidance and others tackling the issues with what ever knowledge and experiences one can draw upon.

But one thing is clear. We all yearn for acceptance, peace, fulfillment and happiness and the relief from suffereing.

Mindfulness is a simple and yet very potent way of relating to one’s experiences and events in a ful and constructive way.

Mindfulness is rooted in the teachings of Buddhism and Yogic Philosophy. Known as ‘Sati’ in Pali,, the language of Buddhist Psychologists or Pratyahara in Sanskrit, the 5^th stage of realization in Patanjali Yoga Philosophy.

It is the withdrawal of sensory attachment in pursuit of moment-to-moment awareness without judgement or reaction.

The cultivation of mindfulness leads to a different relationship with the way we experience our suffering.

Mindfulness increases our ability to tolerate the vagaries of life, the pain of suffering and the curbing of intense emotional reactions.

We all crave for authenticity, for compassion, kindness and a higher purpose to our lives.

We get caught in our roles as actors in a play. Slowly we stop differentiating with the roles and our identities are merged in complecity. Mindfulness s us become aware of our ‘ adopted roles’, through the power of non-judgemental observation.

Cultivating mindfulness s us play our roles to the highest potential while being able to ‘switch off ‘those role’ or, call in for a ‘retake’!

With the passage of time, this valuable practice gives us greater equanimity, clarity, identity of what and who we are and are not. It affects how we relate to our roles, experiences and perceptions in a very wholesome and constructive manner.

Our inner light becomes steady, our reactions tamed, our ability to switch on and off with a detached disposition.

We are able to receive bad news with greater equanimity and acceptance, and tolerance.

We are able to embrace joy in the present, releasing future expectations or past fears, owning the present moment in its totality and knowing that the present is ever changing and finite.

Indeed Freud, Jung and many psychodynamic clinicians were fascinated with the eastern practices of meditation and mindfulness.

I see the synthesis of western and eastern psychological interventions in psychotherapy as a new wave in the holistic understanding of suffering.