Mindfulness and Heedfulness

“Mindfulness and heedlessness” – touching on some of the differences between mindfulness practice in Buddhism and in psychological applications.

During the past 20 years, mindfulness has not only attracted a lot of interest in psychology but has also become a term commonly found in mainstream media and popular books. What helped this wide acceptability of mindfulness is that standardised mindfulness-based interventions (such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) had been researched systematically for their effectiveness. Recently scholars have tried to compare how mindfulness is understood and taught in modern programmes as opposed to in Buddhist practice. Much discussion has focused on compassion and the ethical aspects of mindfulness emphasised in Buddhism in contrast to the focus on self-healing in psychology. With the increased interest in mindfulness in wider society, Buddhists need to understand how Buddhism and secular mindfulness may be different. This presentation discusses the concept of heedfulness to understand different goals and purposes of mindfulness practice and spiritual cultivation.