How to Measure Your Success in Mindfulness

by Kathirasan K

Measuring your success in Mindfulness is similar to trying measure the present moment. Every time you take a stopwatch to measure it, it just slips away. Because the present moment cannot be measured. The only way to measure success in Mindfulness is to stop doing it. Or rather ‘being’ it.

With the increasing the research and experiments with Mindfulness practices, people tend to also want to measure their progress in Mindfulness. This is also very popular among people I have met in Yoga circles. People assume that a 50 minute meditation practice is better than a 5 minute practice. The longer you are in meditation, the greater you are. This comparison makes a gigantic assumption that all of us are the same. However that is not true. The world repeated reminds us (all the time) that we are all not the same. We are unique beings. Each of us bring a unique past filled with all kinds of emotions, wisdom and life experiences. So all of us are not standing at the same starting line. And neither is there a finish line. In other words, this is not a race.

Instead of measuring your success in Mindfulness, celebrate the success that you are at ‘being’ during your Mindfulness practices.