The Best Way to Proselytize Mindfulness

When I started practicing mindfulness and seeing benefits, the first thing I wanted to do was tell everybody how great it was. Naturally when one finds something good, one wants to share it. The problem is most people incessantly think all the time. They’re too lost in thought to give mindfulness a try. They’re especially not going to try it just because I say so.

I’ve found the best way to proselytize mindfulness is through actions, not words. On this text-based journal, all I have is words, so I write about it. But in real life, I don’t proselytize meditation any more unless it comes up because that doesn’t work. What works is other people observing the way I am.

Those who are mindful have a way about them. Through seeing the impermanence of the objects of consciousness again and again, they stop identifying with those objects. Nothing that happens seems to phase them. Not because they’re stuck in some edgy teenage nihilist phase, but because they accept their conscious reality and its transience. The resulting equanimity of mind presents itself different ways in different people, but typically it’s obvious to attentive observers.

People naturally become curious about such a person. They begin to wonder “What is this person doing that I’m not?” and that is a good opportunity to introduce mindfulness. If mindfulness is forced on people, they’ll be less interested. If it’s their idea, they’ll be more interested. Be mindful and let others ask you about it first. If they want to know, they’ll ask. That, in my opinion, is the best way to proselytize mindfulness.