Mindfulness is not some sort of otherworldly state that is a break from ordinary reality. Life is interaction, and mindfulness is our natural ability to manage the interactions of life.
We are mindless when we are on autopilot, i.e. when we keep going without being aware of what we are doing. Pausing gives us the possibility to be mindful, i.e. to pay attention to our inner experience in relation to what we are doing.
This kind of contemplation is not divorced from real life. It is what allows us to find motivation, and a felt sense of meaning and purpose, moment by moment. In other words, to be ourselves.
As I pause, I get a sense of who I am & what I want.
As you read the above, you might conclude that being mindful is a choice that we can all make at will. This is not the case. When faced with overwhelming circumstances, our nervous system shifts away from mindful engagement and into trauma mode. Mindful engagement requires at least some degree of safety and support. Under trauma, we lose our ability to be fully ourselves. This is what happens under oppression.
Podcast
While this site’s core ideas represent a specific point of view, this is not to the exclusion of other perspectives. In fact, a core belief is that we are enriched by being open to other perspectives. Most of the content of this site consists of conversations with people representing a broad range of opinions and perspectives. See Podcast.
“A user-friendly guide to the application of mindfulness in everyday life”
Read more about The Proactive Twelve Syeps.
About the site
Active Pause was created by Serge Prengel, and the core ideas of this site reflect his perspective. Read more about Mindfulness in the context of interaction.
This website also features embodied mindfulness exercises, explorations of interactive mindfulness, current & upcoming events, and more (see navigation menu).
Navigation menu
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