1

Is mindfulness really better

than chocolate?
All of human unhappiness is due to the inability
to sit still in a room alone.
Blaise Pascal
I
s mindfulness really better than chocolate? Come to
think of it, is anything better than chocolate? Or is
the title of this book nothing more than a shameless
ploy to grab your attention?
As it happens, the idea that mindfulness is bet!
ter than chocolate is based on compelling research.
More than 2000 people in the United States took
part in an innovative study using smartphone tech!
nology. Panel members were sent questions at dif!
ferent times of the day and night asking what they
were doing, what they were thinking and how happy
they felt.
1
The analysis, published by Harvard University
psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel
Gilbert in Science magazine, revealed three impor!
tant facts. First, people were not thinking about
what they were doing 47 per cent of the time. Sec!
ond, people were unhappier when their minds were
wandering than when they were not. And third, what
people were thinking was a better predictor of their
happiness than what they were doing.
The researchers summarised: A human mind is
a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an un!
happy mind. The ability to think about what is not
happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at
an emotional cost.
Long ago, Buddhists reached much the same
conclusion. An ancient tale tells of a novice who
asked an enlightened monk to reveal the secret of
happiness. The monk told him, I eat, and I walk and
I sleep. When the novice replied that he also did
these things, the monk replied, When I eat, I eat.
When I walk, I walk. When I sleep, I sleep.
Buddha and the Harvard Psychology Depart!
ment are most denitely on the same page when it
comes to mindfulness. And the Harvard ndings are
rich with implications for human behaviour.
But what concerns us right now is chocolate.
The study shows were at our happiest when our
mind is not wanderingthat is, when were in a
state of mindfulness. But the nature of peoples ac!
tivities had only a modest impact on whether their
minds wandered. It would seem that whether were
washing the dishes or eating the most mouth-water!
ingly delicious Belgian praline, were just as likely to
have a wandering mind. Eating chocolate is no
guarantee that were thinking about what were do!
ing.
Which is why mindfulness will always trump
chocolate as a means of delivering happiness.
Perhaps not surprisingly, theres one human ac!
tivity where mindfulness is consistently high: sex.
Only 10 per cent of people reported their minds wan!
dering during this activity, so if Id called this book
Why mindfulness is better than sex, I would have
found myself on much shakier ground.
Incidentally, one cant help speculating on what
those 10 per cent of people who reported wandering
minds during sex were actually thinking about.
Could the old clich of grocery lists be true? More
research, please!
I will admit, however, to being a little mis!
chievous in creating a false dichotomy between
mindfulness and choco-late. Theres no reason to
choose between the two. On the contrary, the high!
light of my mindfulness seminars is often an exer!
cise I call the Lindt technique, where I invite partici!
pants to mindfully enjoy a Lindt chocolate. Their in!
structions are to focus exclusively on the sensation
of eating a chocolate, every element in forensic de!
tail, from opening the foil wrapper to the appear!
ance and heft of the sphere, the explosion of deli!
cious avours, and savouring the smooth, liquid
heart of the chocolate as it bursts in the mouth.
Are you salivating yet?
For two or three minutes a blissful silence ensues.
Mind--fulness applied to the eating of chocolate
theres something that can give even the proverbial
grocery lists a run for their money!
Mindfulness in the mainstream
Both mindfulness and meditation have become
very fashionable of late. Just as the cheesecloth
and hashish brigade of the 1970s have long since
matured to become pillars of the establishment, so
too our understanding of meditation has evolved in
recent decades from hippie-trippy mysticism to
mainstream practice.
Although the difference between meditation
and mindfulness will be described in more detail
later, at the outset its important to note the distinc!
tion between the two words. When were being
mindful, were paying attention to the present mo!
ment, deliberately and non-judgementally. When
were meditating, were being mindful of a specic
objectsuch as the sensation of the breath at the
tip of our nostrilsfor a sustained period of time.
Meditation is, if you like, the training ground for
mindfulness. Regular meditation enhances our
ability to be mindful. We can all enjoy mindfully
drinking a cup of coffee without the benet of med!
itation practice, but our capacity for mindfulness is
greatly enhanced if we meditate regularly.
Doctors these days are as likely to recommend
meditation for stress management as they are to
prescribe medication. Many of the worlds highest
prole consumer companies, such as Google, Apple,
Facebook and Twitter, actively support meditation in
their workplaces, as do some of the largest nancial
institutions, accounting rms, manufacturers and
other corporations. No best practice management
school is complete these days without a mindful
leadership program. The worlds most elite athletes,
sports stars and performing artists employ tech!
niques borrowed from the mindfulness toolbox.
Mindfulness is a foundation practice across the in!
creasingly popular practices of yoga, tai chi and a
variety of martial arts. Meditation programs are
demonstrably among the most successful deployed
in prisons to reduce re-offence rates. A wave of re!
search since the turn of the century at laboratories in
California, New England, Europe and Australia is
focusing on the emerging discipline of contemplative
neuroscience. Even the US Marines have got in on
the act, coaching soldiers in meditation-based
exercises before deploying them in the worlds most
dangerous war zones.
Mindfulness practices are millennia old, origi!
nating in eastern traditions, notably Buddhism,
which has extensively practised, debated, docu!
mented and taught a range of techniques for a va!
riety of purposes. Given that Buddhism has at its
heart a reverence for all forms of life, the idea of
teaching meditation to soldiers about to parachute
into battle may well raise the eyebrows of some.
But in describing the exercise as like doing push-
ups for the brain, the US Army general respons-
ible pithily summarised the way meditation has
been reframed: just as a healthy body demands
regular exercise, goes this paradigm, a healthy
mind requires the same.
2
This move to the mainstream has inevitably
been accompanied by a urry of books. Without
any particular plan to build a library on the subject,
I have on my personal bookshelves alone a sec!
tion of books on mindfulness and meditation about
a metre long, picked up here and there in recent
years. These books espouse a variety of ap!
proaches ranging from the determinedly practical
to the quirkily esoteric.
Books I dont have on my shelves include those
by an ever-expanding group of self-styled teachers
and mindfulness gurus who go to quite some lengths
in the pursuit of mystication. A liberal sprinkling of
and signs is usually warning enough. The re!
quirement to spend large sums of money on week!
end intensives should also cause the brow to
wrinkle. For the truth is that mindfulness is a simple
subjectdifcult to practise, no question, but
straight-forward to explain.
Given all this, does the world need yet another
book on mindfulness?
The dumbing down of mindfulness
Some months ago I was delivering a mindfulness
seminar to a group of engineers at a business
school. The participants were an engaged bunch,
and a meditation exercise was followed by a lively
Q&A session, during which I was asked: Why do
Buddhist monks meditate? After all, they dont
have any stress. All they have to do is hang around
for the next meal to arrive.
On the surface of things, this is perhaps a rea!
sonable question. And going by the smiles and
nodding, it was clear that this observation chimed
with quite a few others in the room. If we assume
for a moment that the questioner was essentially
correct, and that the life of a Buddhist monk is one
long picnic waiting for the next course to be
served, it may indeed seem mystifying why stress
management would be called for.
But for me the question really summed up the
tragically diminished idea many people have of
what mindfulness and meditation are all about.
Yes, theyre great for managing stress, but that
isnt why Buddhists do them. Stress Management
isnt the main reason, nor even a particularly im!
portant part of our motivation. To put things in a
current, western perspective, it was as if my ques!
tioner was asking why people who arent on Face!
book bother with internet access. Why else would
you want to go online?
I felt the need to write this book because I to
share the real treasure of mindfulnessits truly
transformative power, the authentic reason Bud!
dhist monks meditate. This explanation is left be!
hind, overlooked, dumbed down or never even ex!
plored by some contemporary mindfulness teach!
ersand not necessarily with bad intentions. Mind!
fulness Lite is an easier sell to a wide audience,
and cant the world use as many mindful people as
possible, albeit of the push-ups for the brain vari!
ety? Besides, the benets of meditation are so nu!
merous and now so well established by re!
searchers that you dont need to take people too
far along the journey for them to start noticing the
favourable physical and psychological effects, so
why go further?
At the heart of this reluctance to venture into
the heartland of meditation, Im guessing, is also a
certain fear. When people are given the tools to ob!
serve the true nature of their own minds for them!
selves, the experience is a subtle but in-evitable
game-changer. When the rug is well and truly
pulled out from beneath the confection of the self
we have come to believe ourselves to be, we can
never experience ourselves in quite the same way
again. Like being able to see the alternative per!
spective in one in those famous optical illusions,
we can never go back to our former innocence.
Our view of our self changes forever.
East and West
In writing this book, Im doing so not as a Buddhist
monktempting though the prospect of a lifetimes
free catering may benor as someone claiming
any preternatural mental abilities. The prosaic
truth is that Im a regular middle-aged corporate
consultant with many of the usual personal, busi!
ness and nancial responsibilities. In the midst of
this typically busy 21st-century life, I have never!
theless found, in meditation and mindfulness, prac!
tices that have transformed my experience of reali!
ty dramatically for the better. And I know from talk!
ing to other meditators that its the same for them,
too.
My own meditation journey has been informed
by Tibetan Buddhism, in particular the lineage es!
tablished in Australia by the pre-eminent Geshe
Acharya Thubten Loden and, more di rectl y,
through the teachings Ive received from my kind
and precious teacher, Les Sheehy. While the
knowledge and experience I have acquired has
been guided by them, any failure in my attempt to
pass on their profound wisdom is very much my
own doing.
While I will refer to Buddhist sources and in!
sights where relevant, its important to note that
the study of our own minds isnt about theory or
belief. Its about seeing whats there for ourselves.
Ill also refer to research from scientic endeav!
ours in elds as varied as psychology, neuro!
science, medicine, genetics and quantum physics.
One of the joys of being alive in the early part
of the
21st century is witnessing the convergence of so
many different dynamicsancient and contempo!
rary, outer and inner, eastern and westernin ar!
r i v i n g a t a h o l i s t i c u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f
consciousness.
For some people, the proliferation of empirical
studies showing the benets of mindfulness en!
courages personal exploration. Others have a
more intuitive understanding of the value of this
practice. I hope in this book to share ideas that will
inspire both intuitive and analytical thinkers, both
left-brain and right-brain thinkers.
I have also intentionally interwoven chapters
on mindfulness theory with those explaining how
to practise meditation. As fascinating as concepts
of mindfulness are, the only way they can have a
powerful personal impact is if we apply them.
Ideas, theories and evidence only get us so far.
Then we need to move beyond concept.
In my previous non-ction books, Buddhism for
Busy People, Hurry Up and Meditate and Enlight!
enment to Go,
Ive shared some of the experiences of my own
journey, and
I do so in this book, too. This isnt because Im the
repository of especially arcane insights, but be!
cause I hope youll nd in this more personal ac!
countrather than a straightforward exposition of
the subjectthemes and discoveries you can re!
late to, landmarks that may be useful in your own -
exploration of the mind.
An outline of the mindfulness journey
We begin our exploration with the nuts and bolts of
mindfulnesswhat it is, why it works and how we
can benet from it in basic but profound ways.
Stress management? Certainly! Boosting our im!
mune systems and pushing back our biological
clocks? That too! The physical and psychological
benets of mindfulness, even if taken no further
than this, are well worth getting out of bed ten min!
utes earlier for every morning.
We then move onto the possibilities offered by
mindfulness in changing the content of your ongo!
ing conversation with yourself. Chatter, chatter,
chatter. Were all up to it. But are there recurring
themes in this constant stream of self-talk that
dont serve you well? For example, are you a wor!
rier, constantly anticipating all the things that could
possibly go wrong then convincing yourself that
the worst outcome is almost certain? Or are you a
victim, feeling you can never make any headway
because of your circumstances, past events or the
people in your life? Or are you someone who
struggles to nd any compelling purpose or happi!
ness beyond lling your days with as many plea!
surable distractions as possible?
The combination of mindfulness with what has
become known as cognitive behaviour training is
one of t he most power f ul t r ansf or mat i on
modalities. Creating space amid all the mental agi!
tation, discovering that we can become the ob!
servers of our thoughts rather than their unwitting
slavesthis is another extraordinary consequence
of a more mindful life. Its a consequence that al!
lows us to get proactive about what goes on in our
mind, take charge of our own mental trajectories
and thereby exercise choice over the destinies to
which our every thought propels us.
The main eventmind itself
And then we come to mind itself. What it is. What
it is not. Were no longer doing push-ups here
were onto something much more exciting! Ill
guide you through the practical steps by which you
can experience your own mind for yourself, not as
a concept or intellectual idea, but directly and rst!
hand. Youll be empowered to experience the na!
ture of your own consciousness, and if youre any!
thing like most people whove never tried this be!
fore, youll nd, in those rst glimpses of
the pure nature of your own mind, an extraordinary
truth. Youll see for yourself how your mind is, quite
literally, innite. How it has no beginning and no end.
How, far from being some existential void, its imbued
with the most profound happiness-giving qualities.
Youll experience the paradox that even though
you set out to explore your mind, the result is as
much a feeling as it is a perception. Its an experi!
ence beyond concept and for which words are
therefore wholly inadequate, but that may be hint!
ed at using such terms as oceanic tranquillity and
radiant love.
Even the briefest encounter with this state is
life-changing, because when we can free our!
selves from the agitation or dullness that pervades
our minds and encounter our own true natures, if
only momentarily, we can never go back to believ!
ing ourselves to be nothing more than a bag of
bones. We have experienced a dimension of being
that transcends all our usual ideas of self.
We have come home.
When we begin to explore our own mind, we
usually do so for reasons of self-discovery. But an
interesting thing happens, because in experiencing
our own true nature, we come to recognise that
just as we are, others are too. Our everyday expe!
rience of people is one in which we habitually ob!
serve and judge based on what we see, at a con!
ventional level, as their apparent characteristics.
Discovering that these characteristics are, ulti!
mately, as temporary and insignicant as our own,
a shift occurs. Others may continue the way
theyve always seemed to be, but now we know
better. Aware of the more important way in which
they exist, as well as the difculties and chal!
lenges they must inevitably endure because of
their profoundly self-limiting beliefs, our compas!
sion quite naturally arises. Mindfulness is no
longer just about me. It becomes panoramic.
I can think of nothing more enduringly fascinat!
ing or life-enhancing than the practice of mindful!
ness. No matter where you are on your own jour!
ney, I hope you nd in this book fresh insights and
inspiration to encourage your further exploration.
In particular, its my heartfelt wish that you may
abide, however eetingly, in your own unobstruct!
ed mind. For there youll discover that your own
true nature is one of timeless and transcendental
bliss.
Chocolate, schmocolate. Show me the medita!
tion cushion!