The Seven Pillars of Mindfulness Practice

"...consciously cultivating certain attitudes can be very helpful in getting the most out of the process of meditation. Your intentions set the stage for what is possible. They remind you from moment to moment of why you are practicing in the first place. Keeping particular attitudes in mind is actually part of the training itself, a way of directing and channeling your energies so that they can be most effectively brought to bear in the work of growing and healing." - Mindfulness teacher Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (2005), p32.

There are key attitudes necessary for mindfulness practice. These attitudes inter-relate to one another, and balance the practice as one continues. Here are these attitudes presented as 'The Seven Pillars of Mindfulness' as found in Mindfulness teacher Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's book Full Catastrophe Living (2005), beginning on p33. Single 'summary' sentences; picked up from various sources and teachers, have been attached to flesh-out each attitude:

Non-Judging: Clinging and aversion increases our tension; our discomfort.

Patience: You can't pull on a plant to make it grow.

Beginner's mind: Don't paint the clear sky blue.

Trust: One's body will detoxify all by itself as it always has done - if one allows it to.

Non-striving: You can't still the mind with thoughts.

Acceptance: Mindfulness means that there's no conflict.

Letting go: Attaching ourselves to things puts us on a leash and ties us down.