SicklySweet posted a great description of mindfulness above. I'll just add a few of the things that we talked about in chat last week.

Everyone has Wise Mind. It is the place where your heart and your reason come together and you know that it is true. To experience wise mind for yourself, breathe in slowly through your nose and out through your mouth. Keep breathing like this, slowly, and calmly, for a few minutes until you feel calm and relaxed. When you are ready, let your breath settle, and notice where that centered place is where your breath goes. It might be the center of your chest, between your eyes, the center of your forehead, etc. Find what it is for you - there is no right or wrong.

Remember that wise mind balances and draws from both emotional mind and rational mind. In my skills groups, I have participants think of a problem or situation, then role play, choosing one person to represent emotional mind, another to represent rational mind, and another for wise mind.

I usually have to remind them that emotional mind includes all of the feelings experienced, which include anger and sadness, as well as love and generosity, etc. My group members tend to assume that emotions are "bad" and get them in trouble all the time, and they will act out emotional mind as the devil sitting on your shoulder. I have to remind them that emotions are not necessarily good or bad - they just are, and we need them.

If the group members assume that emotions are the devil, then they tend to assume that rational mind is the angel on your shoulder, and that rational mind will come up with a logical solution that will be the best solution to the problem. Again, I have to remind them that logic is useful and we need it, but it is neither good nor bad. Ebenezer Scrooge relied on logic and pragmatics and did not allow himself to feel, and he learned that more balance was needed. Rational mind defines the facts and plans things out in a logical sequence towards an objective. Rational mind needs to be balanced with feeling and emotion so that it will work towards the desired objective. A computer can solve many problems, but can't decide which problem to work on without being told.

Wise mind considers both emotional mind and rational mind, finds what is true in each, and puts it together. Wise mind finds what you care about most, and the way to get there.

One thing that came up in the chat last week was how it can be difficult to access wise mind if your ego is fractured such that there is a part(s) that is only emotion, and a part(s) that is only logic or ration. Especially if those parts don't work together well. If that is the case, then accessing wise mind will take some practice with getting parts to work together. It might take longer and hard work to get there, but you still can. You really need to have a way to ground yourself, or someone to help bring you back if you start to float away. If you have a meditation routine or practice that works for you, that is also helpful.