Jon Kabat Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, defines mindfulness as: “The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.”

Therefore, if you’re not paying attention to whatever it is you are doing, then that could be defined as the direct opposite of mindfulness: mindlessness.

Mindlessness is a state where we are responding based on conditioning, moving on autopilot, or working from a fixed mindset. In this state we are not open to new input or actively making decisions. Instead, we are acting out of instinct. In this mindset, people typically focus on outcomes (Can I do it?)  rather than process (How do I do it?). In the Outcome Mindset there is either success or failure, where as in a Process Mindset there are no failures, only ineffective solutions.

There are many causes of mindlessness:

  • Repetition: doing the same thing over and over without questioning why
  • Premature cognitive commitment: leaping to a conclusion without enough information to make a good choice
  • Belief in limited resources: operating from a scarcity mindset
  • Education: taking acquired knowledge as absolute fact
  • Conditioning for outcomes: having a fixed mind on what the outcome should be vs. allowing things to unfold in the natural course
  • Wandering mind: simply not focused or interested in what you are doing at the moment

Mindlessness and a closed mindset can contribute to a wide range of negative outcomes:

  • A narrow self-image that relies on past performance and conditioned roles
  • Unintended insensitivity or inability to emotionally connect with others
  • Failure to make intelligent choices
  • Learned helplessness after repeated failure
  • A stunted potential due to inability to grow or change

All of these outcomes are unhealthy. In contrast, when you cultivate mindfulness you are capable of welcoming new information, understanding other people’s perspectives, and becoming an observer of your thoughts and patterns. When you aren’t happy with something about yourself or your life, you feel more empowered to change it.

Try this Mindful Listening exercise #4 from Alfred James.

By practicing withholding your judgment about a single piece of music, you can start to train your brain to view other things more objectively too. If you are not actively controlling your mind, your mind is controlling you! Choose moment to moment mindfulness.