I was taught early on that mindfulness meditation is, at its core, a practice of cultivating healthy states of mind. What we learn is to continually bring our attention to the processes unfolding within us—bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts, and so on. We first learn to recognize these processes, and then to develop a mature and compassionate relationship with what we encounter. In this way, we develop the capacity to truly be there for ourselves. According to many traditions and approaches, this capacity is at the heart of living a joyful and whole life over time.

As we know, our actions are often driven by habitual and unconscious tendencies. In other words, in those moments, we actually don't know what we are doing. The capacity to be there for ourselves involves recognizing our own inner processes. As we begin to recognize them, we begin to have the possibility of choosing what we want to think, what decisions we want to make, and how we want to act. In this way, we learn to know what we are doing. Knowing what we are doing allows us to consciously shape our lives in the direction we want.