I used to think my mind was broken.
Every time I tried to be mindful it immediately went somewhere else. That conversation from yesterday. The email I hadn't replied to. Whether I'd locked the front door.
I assumed people who were good at mindfulness just had naturally quieter minds. Mine clearly hadn't got that memo.
Turns out I had the whole thing backwards.
Mindfulness isn't about having an empty mind. It's about noticing that your mind is full. That's it. That tiny moment of - oh, there I go again, that IS the practice. Not the failure. The actual thing.
When I realised that, everything shifted.
Now, when I sit down, and my brain immediately starts running through tomorrow's to-do list, I don't fight it. I just noticed it. "There's my brain doing its thing." And then I come back.
Some days I come back dozens of times in five minutes. Some days it feels steadier. Either way is fine.
The practice isn't how long you can hold focus. It's how kindly you return when you realise you've drifted.
So if your mind goes mad the moment you try to be present — good. That's your mind being a mind. You're not failing at mindfulness. You're just paying attention to something that was always happening anyway.
Heather x