Mindful qualities
Present-time awareness, acceptance, and disentangling from your thoughts
“The feeling that any task is a nuisance will soon disappear if it is done in mindfulness.” – Thích Nhat Hanh
We spend a lot of our time in the past, caught in regret about past failures or in the future, worrying about possible future failures or things that we would sooner be doing; rather than in the present, where we are doing what shapes our lives. In order to be a good self-regulated learner, you need to be aware of your thoughts, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards your learning so you can loosen the control that thoughts and feelings have over your behaviour and get out of automatic ways of responding that lead you away from your learning goals.
Mindfulness is a practice that allows you to develop present-time awareness of thoughts and feelings, and accept those thoughts and feelings as natural products of your mind that you can observe and let pass without becoming entangled, distracted and off track. Through the module, you will work on activities that will help you to develop these essential qualities.
Mindful qualities involves experiencing present-time awareness of thoughts, feelings and accepting these thoughts and feelings as natural products of your mind. By developing these skills you can loosen the control that thoughts and feelings have over your behaviour and better focus on your learning goals or the task at hand.
Self-regulated learning can be achieved through the SRL cycle. The SRL cycle allows you to take strategic control of how you approach your goals and be prepared and willing to face any challenges and seize any opportunities that might arise as you work to make your goals your reality. SRL is achieved in three phases: reflect, plan, and act. Ideally, you should repeat this cycle multiple times as you create goals and tackle challenges.
The ability to be aware of present-time and remain aware throughout your day-to-day experiences. Mindfulness is the ability to resist distraction and temptations, and to remain present and focused on the task at hand. This skill also allows you to control your emotions and respond in a skillful way to emotionally challenging situations, rather than react automatically without careful thinking or emotional control. The skills needed for mindfulness are developed through practice. You must start with simple activities to develop mindful awareness in a variety of situations. Meditation is a common activity to practice awareness and to focus on the present.
Present-time awareness involves letting go of all of the distractions that are an inherent part of life and instead focusing on what is happening in the present. To be aware of the present one must push away incoming thoughts about future worries or tasks and instead focus only on what is happening in the present. To develop this awareness you will practice mindful qualities throughout the module.
