Most of us use the terms “brain” and “mind” interchangeably, even though they aren’t synonymous.
While the brain is a physical organ located in the head, the mind refers to the mental activities that seem to occur in the same general vicinity. Although there’s no need to police the way we talk about our minds in casual conversations, distinguishing between these terms can enhance your experience of mindfulness exercises.
Because getting the most out of mindfulness requires regular practice, clarifying ambiguities like this can help you stick with it long enough to experience the benefits.
The brain oversees a ridiculously sophisticated biological enterprise. It constantly tweaks the allocation of metabolic resources according to predictions that are based on the accumulation of past experiences. It’s responsible for regulating everything going on under the hood, including all the processes that doctors and nurses track when you come in for a check-up.1 It keeps every bodily function going, whether you’re stuck in traffic, laughing at a friend’s joke, or in bed asleep.
Your brain is not only capable of triggering a fight-or-flight response when necessary, but it also continuously processes live sensory information, along with all the accumulated details from past experiences, to efficiently allocate resources in real-time.2
When people express frustration with our brains, we refer to this processing. When we say that our brains feel foggy, are bouncing from one idea to another, or just aren’t working right, we’re talking about an awareness of processing things mentally and emotionally.
However, the mind is just one of the many complex functions that the brain is involved in. You don’t need a degree in biology to digest a burrito or absorb oxygen into your bloodstream. You don’t have to study physiology or memorize the Krebs cycle to burn calories when you work out. It is also true that you don’t have to be a neuroscientist to get better at relating to your mind.
What makes conceptual mental processing different from most of your bodily functions is that it can run on autopilot, you can engage in it consciously, or you can try to observe with a bit of objective distance. Breathing is similar, which is what makes it a popular gateway into mindfulness practice.3
As you navigate your daily life, your mind uses a narrative structure to sort through all the sensory info you take in and weighs options for responding. Thoughts occur spontaneously, but we can also exert some control over mental content.
When you practice mindfulness—whether it's through a meditation session, while you're out for a run, or just taking a moment to notice what's happening around you—you're really just tuning into the perceptual details of your experiences. This includes paying attention to what you see, hear, and feel, as well as getting a clearer sense of your mental and emotional processing.
You can intentionally aim your awareness toward whatever you want. Even though your brain is behind this ability, you don’t need to worry about that, and try to focus on the noticing itself sometimes.4
You can see what is right in front of you, hear sounds around you, and feel sensations in your body. You can smell dinner cooking and taste it when it’s ready to eat. You can notice the sensations that signal hunger, humor, and sexual attraction.
You can also recall scenes from the past and imagine what might happen in the future. Your memories can include sounds, music, words, conversations, as well as images of people, places, and objects. When you imagine, you’re using your mind. This couldn’t happen without your brain, but remembering and planning are just a couple of the many intricate processes your brain has to juggle.
The term "mindful" is problematic because it suggests that the entire game is mental, which it is not. However, there doesn't seem to be a suitable alternative.
The mind—or mental processing—is just another tangle of phenomena that awareness can observe.
When you pay attention to your mind, it’s your awareness that is focused on mental activity, and when you pay attention to sensations in your body, it’s the same awareness—not the mind—that is doing the feeling.
When you direct your awareness to the sensations in your feet, mental processing offers words to describe what you feel and images to clarify the location of the sensations in physical space.5 However, according to meditation teacher Michael Taft, “Meditating on the body means meditating on body sensation, not mental images or other thoughts about the body.”6
The attention exercise below directly explores this difference.
I feel very lucky to have stumbled upon these fascinating distinctions, even though they’re not widely understood or appreciated. Their practical applicability in daily life continues to blow me away. They help deepen my appreciation for how humans perceive ourselves and the world around us, as well as our shared ability to notice the richness that quietly lurks in ordinary phenomena.
I know that trying to explain these nuances can sound a bit abstract or even obvious at times, but I really believe it's worth the effort. I'm just hoping to spark some curiosity and encourage others to see how real and phenomenal it can be to bring more awareness to the subtle yet significant details of being alive.
Exercise
This exercise helps you feel more grounded, regardless of what’s happening inside and around you.
Circumstances for learning this attention exercise
getting ready for bed
eating lunch
waiting for an appointment to begin
