 Hey there, I was teaching a class earlier this week and a student asked how do you know if you have mindfulness skills? Which is a great question and I answered her and I thought I'd make a video about it, too So when I'm training people in mindfulness, we're working to develop three skills and the skills are concentration sensory clarity and Equanimity so I'm go through what each of those skills is and how you can tell if you have it So you can assess your own skill level in your own practice and go. Oh, yeah, I'm checking the box. I do have those. Okay, first one Concentration So concentration is the ability to focus on what you want to focus on when you want to focus on it You will know You have Concentration skills if you are able to do that. So whether it's in work or your art practice if What you want to do you're able to stick with it For a long time without being pulled away by External distractions or internal impulses and urges to leave the work If you're able to stay with it Then you have high concentration You also will know you have high concentration if if you are doing the work and When you are doing it, it feels somewhat pleasurable Even if the work that you're doing isn't pleasurable so for example, I Would not find I wouldn't go like ooh scanning a spreadsheet for a Calculation error wouldn't be Inherently pleasurable for me. I go. Yeah, it's kind of boring, but I'll do it But if I go to it with high concentration skills, so if I'm scanning and if I have high concentration skills It will still be pleasurable right because it's just feels really good to concentrate So if you find that you are enjoying work more Tasks that you didn't like are somewhat enjoyable even though you haven't changed them They haven't got more interesting. They've become more pleasurable because you have risen your concentration skills. I Didn't know that I had increased my concentration skills Through through mindfulness like I wasn't sitting and then all of a sudden I was like I couldn't really concentrate What happened is that I was writing so before when I read write stories when I had low Concentration and I definitely did Thoughts would come up like this is silly or I would get stuck and instead of working through it I would just give up and be like there's no point You have no depth Or any sort of external thing that happened I'd be like, okay, I'll go fix that and so although I had this internal need Internal want of wanting to write a story and work through, you know, the problems that came up in the story My low concentration didn't allow me to like be a master in that work but I found myself One day I was writing and I had a moment where I did hit a block and Then I just kept going and I was like, oh, I'm doing it. I'm writing and it was pleasurable And did I figure out that story that day? No, I didn't but I stuck with it And it's like my concentration skills were higher than the distractions that used to pull me away from my work So that's how you'll know you have concentration, right? Focus on what you want to focus on when you want to focus on it number two sensory clarity so sensory clarity is the ability to to untangle and appreciate sensory events specifically things that you can see and hear and feel internally and externally right so You will know that you have high sensory clarity because Well life just feels More enriching You're often feeling more enjoyment And and it's not that like you've changed position in life You're just feeling and noticing the details of things and Like you might like the often when clients first learn this they'll be like I never noticed that there was birds Outside my window at dinner time And it's really simple that they just never heard it because they were like Stuck in in planning or scheming or stuff in their head that they weren't aware of like oh, what's really going on and Then when things would come up So if if a thought comes up that often you know in the past maybe held you back If it's no longer if it's coming up But your reaction to it isn't to like believe it and mull it over if it's to break it up and be like oh, it's That's just a thought I'm not letting it settle and have some power. So it's untangled then you'll know you have sensory clarity It's kind of like walking around And like hyper color like everything feels Extra alive you're noticing the details that no one else is noticing them Yeah, so it's and it's often often you'll feel lighter and happier Just by doing that Yeah, that's in sir clarity. It's such a good. It's like such a beautiful one and it's also I think Sensor clearly is that if you notice I think also You can if you're noticing things about your own experience But you're also noticing the experiences of others in a new way that can also be a sign That you've got some heightened sensory clarity. So you're aware of like the mood of the room Now as you develop so if you've got like off the chart sensory clarity Often that you can you can reach a level where you like you go past Just the basic level of I'm just seeing things. I'm just hearing things I'm breaking them apart and you start to see Look on tour and the connections of things that are quite big and quite abstract And if you have some clarity in there as well That can that can mean you have some heightened sensory clarity Third skill equanimity So equanimity means that it's really In a nutshell like your ability to let things go and go with the flow So you have equanimity if you are comfortable in the don't know space that you're okay in like ah in this moment and That you're not spending and being pulled away by things that Could happen right like I'll be happy when I land this thing. What's my next project once I do this? right, so if you're always in I Don't get to give myself a break Until then you're probably don't have equanimity If you're always there right and then if you also or opposite to that are stuck in the past So you're mulling over and over Repeated scripts to yourself things that people said to you replaying things that are holding you back if you're living in that world More than you are present Then you don't have equanimity if you are more aware of what's happening in the current moment You know and then going with the flow and it doesn't mean that things happen and you have no reaction, right? it just means that Things can pass through you without sticking without Old reactions Going right, so if you Have equanimity the best way you know you have equanimity is people describe it as they go Well actually someone else I think in the class that I was teaching described it. Wow. She just said I Don't I didn't realize how much time I spent worrying About the future and this helped me to see how often I was doing that which is sensory clarity And then she said and so I'm just You know paying attention to what is now which is equanimity and she says it feels like She feels lighter She feels happier she feels like there's more more space So you'll know you have equanimity if things that used to really urk you and just like Rich you know, I would feel into my stomach like a things it used to be like who or instant anger or Sadness of shame or whatever it was if those things don't hit us hard Then you'll know you'll have equanimity and often you're just like with great equanimity you have just great ease happiness. So that's how you'll know. You're like, I feel really good and nothing really changed and I'm okay with not knowing, right? Yeah. So those are the three mindfulness skills that you can develop and those are the three, you know, things to look out for to know if you have those skills. Thanks for watching. I hope that was educational for you. Okay, bye.