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Mindfulness is awareness without judgement. It involves paying full attention to whatever is happening in the present moment, without forming opinions or beliefs about it. Much of our perception of what’s happening is influenced by how we interpret and react to it. When you practice mindfulness, you let go of your reactions and, as a consequence, you experience things as they really are.
It’s quite a simple concept, isn’t it? Yet, this simple concept can be difficult to practice. Why? Because our reactions and perceptions are largely habitual. They pop up automatically and we don’t even recognize they’re there. In fact, we get quite attached to our habitual thoughts, feelings, and reaction patterns, so much so that we identify with them. We believe they define us. It’s only with lots of patient practice that we begin to see them.
And, even once we’ve noticed them, our automatic reactions are difficult to release. It’s easy to get caught up in a struggle with them. We want to let go, but we can’t, so we get angry, frustrated, and disappointed with ourselves. 
Let me make this discussion a little more concrete with an example. Adina, a student of mine, confided in me that she was going to stop coming to class because meditation just wasn’t for her. She said the first meditation scared her, because her mind was going crazy and she couldn’t stop thinking. She came to the second class determined to do it right. She essentially reprimanded herself for poor performance and told herself in no uncertain terms that she was going to focus completely on the breath. It was just a matter of willpower and she could do it.
But, things didn’t work out that way. The second meditation was just as noisy as the first and she became so frustrated that, by the end she was in tears.
It took a fair bit of coaching from me to get her to believe that she could be successful if she just made peace with her noisy mind. The busy thoughts were just what was happening in the moment. In and of themselves, they weren’t a problem. I told her that her first practice was to simply notice the thoughts without letting them bother her. Just notice them coming and going without any concern about them or about whether she was meditating correctly. Just simply notice. That’s it.
I’m happy to say that she stuck with it. It took more practice and more coaching, but Adina finally understood that the essence of mindfulness is simple presence with whatever arises, even when what comes up is a very busy mind.
The notion of simplicity can be used as a tool. At the beginning of a meditation, coach yourself to sit and pay attention to the breath in the simplest way possible. Just do it. Just sit. And do it without being concerned about whether you’re doing it correctly, or whether it’s enjoyable, or whether it will pay off. The practice is simple. Just sit with the breath, nothing more, nothing less.
And during meditation, whenever you notice that your mind is caught up in something, whether it be thoughts, emotions, feelings, disturbances in the room around you, whatever, just remind yourself that the practice is supposed to be simple. You might just say to yourself “simple,” or “simplicity,” of “keep it simple.” Then, let go of whatever you were focused on. Gently release it and let it fade from your awareness. It will still be there, but you don’t have to focus on it. Relax into it and simply let it go.
Now, of course, you may need to do this over and over again. That’s entirely normal, and it’s perfectly fine. I cannot say this enough: The practice of meditation, the practice of mindfulness, is the practice of re-focusing your attention. It is the practice of letting go of whatever has grabbed your attention and coming back to t...