Today, we start a new series - entitled Purposeful Mindfulness - that aims to enable you understand mindfulness in the context of getting what you want out of today, every day and life in general... particularly in the context of your big goals.

The fashionable idea - related to mindfulness's proven economic benefits - that a happy camper is a productive camper is, on the one hand, too simplistic and, on the other, falls far short of understanding the potential that mindfulness offers for us - both individually and collectively. Hence the title of this series... the development of mindfulness is questionable unless you have a purpose... in mind!

Embroiled in a problem? Put upon by somebody who wants you to become embroiled in their problem? Take a step back - see, feel, hear, smell and taste what's going on. How does what's going on impact or relate to your own objectives? How transient is the current situation? (The answer to that is that, like everything else in this universe, what's happening now is a transient as the clouds flitting across the sky!)

With your objectives in mind, spend a few minutes clearing your mind: a few noticed breaths, a quiet few moments, focused on where you actually are (physically). Armed with your clear mind, decide how best to act - on the basis of what's in it for you. A level head always leads to level-headed behaviour.

We use a process, known as cognitive appraisal, to make sense of the reality of the moment. Unfortunately, this process normally results in us making nonsense of the moment and, as a result, react to what we think is going on. We neither perceive reality nor do we act: we perceive what we expect to perceive and react in a repetitive and predictable way.

It may seem strange that we only perceive what we expect to perceive, yet there is now over eighty years research and investigation that confirms this conclusively... an exploration of the facts is beyond the scope of this short article. Because our "take" on reality is shaped by our expectations - and because our expectations are shaped by our formative experiences in early life - our "take" on reality is skewed. And it's very difficult to act accordingly, if we don't know what's going on!

The process of cogntive appraisal also - bizarrely - sidelines our goals and objectives: neuroscience confirms that the part of our mind that should coordinate our behaviour, so that it coincides with the pursuit of our objectives, is largely uninvolved in our adult life. This is a throwback to our evolutionary past when our objective - first and foremost - was to survive. I don't think, nowadays, that "making it through the day" is the kind of highly motivational objective that will lead us to scale teh heights of human achievement!

So, we're stuck - we inhabit a deliberately and cognitively-automated predictably repetitive world where we continually do the same things, whilst expecting a different outcome!!! And that's where mindfulness comes into the equation. Mindfulness is a game-changer... I suspect, in fact, that mindfulness is the game-changer. Imagine seeing the world as it is, right now. Imagine being able to coordinate your behaviour so that it effortlessly leads you to where you want to go. Imagine being in flow where your day is peppered with peak-performance experiences. Imagine getting what you want out of life.

There's no need to imagine. Mindfulness - purposefully directed, with an outcome in mind - is the means, not just to doing better but being the best and doing what's best to get you to where's best for you.