[Avodah] What is Mindfulness and does Judaism have it

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I was quite confused about this whole thread, and asked the threadstarter, R' Yonatan Kaganoff about it.

For the benefit of others who might be similarly confused, it could be helpful to read the article in Wikipedia titled "Mindfulness". It can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness  It is about seven pages long on my screen, and the first paragraph reads:

> Mindfulness (Pali: Sati; Sanskrit: sm'ti) is a technique in
> which a person becomes intentionally aware of their thoughts
> and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. It plays
> a central role in Buddhism, with Right Mindfulness (Pali:
> sammâ-sati; Sanskrit: samyak-sm'ti) being the seventh element
> of the Noble Eightfold Path, the sadhana of which is held in
> the tradition to engender insight and wisdom. Mindfulness may
> be paralogous in Christianity through the Eastern Orthodox
> hesychastic concept of nepsis.

Akiva Miller