VIDEO: Mindfulness as a Psychology of Being
In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about mindfulness as a psychology of being.
Lisa Firestone: So, you’ve talked about Buddhism in relation to mindfulness. Do you see mindfulness as inherently as part of Buddhism?
Donna Rockwell: Yeah. I don’t, I never really felt that even Buddhism was a religion as much as a way to live awake, you know, they say we’re falling asleep if we just let our minds drag us through life. Well, this is falling awake, you know and I don’t think that’s religious per se. I mean, it would be great if it was, if we could all have the relation of being awake and being present for one another. If that’s a religion, fine. But I don’t even dwell on the religious part.
It’s more of a psychology to me, a psychology of being and a healthy way of being in the world. So, maybe one day, people won’t see it as a religious issue. And I think we’re moving more and more in that direction. I think this is becoming more obvious as just a great way to be in the world.
I remember thinking, like, when I was first exposed to it and I was reading all the books, I would say, “This is psychology. Why aren’t psychologists practicing this?” You know, we have CPT, we have psychodynamic approaches. But this is psychology, you know. Be with our breath, be present. So, I saw it a long time ago as this and now I think it’s moving more and more people are realizing how beneficial it can be.
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