While research is beginning to confirm the benefits of mindfulness practice to boost positive emotions, it is worth exploring what aspect of the practice is crucial for such development. Taking into the account the current and historical evidence, it looks like that ‘accepting the present-moment experience’ comes to be one of the crucial elements of being happy and experiencing positive emotions. One recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “…provide the first experimental evidence that developing an orientation of acceptance toward present-moment experiences is a central mechanism of mindfulness interventions for boosting positive emotions in daily life”.
It should be noted here that accepting present-moment experience is not necessarily resigning to the finality of such event, but means acknowledging the reality of the moment. Such acknowledgement allows us to benchmark what is happening in a moment so that we are not constrained by the expectations of what should be happening.
As you sit for practice, remember to acknowledge the experience of your efforts with a sense of curiosity and equanimity. Such approach opens our perception and allows us to see things in a fresh perspective leading to clarity of thought, action and happiness and positive emotions.
