If meditation was supposed to be solely about emptying the mind, it would be called Mind-empty-ness not Mind-full-ness. Mind-empty-ness would mean the mind is either broken, or no longer of the localized mind. Mind-full-ness means that, despite being a potential nuisance, the mind is alive and well, making its electric dance across consciousness.

Just like how your organs cannot shut down, the mind cannot either. Even during sleep, the mind does not shut down. Shutting down means death. If enlightenment through mindfulness occurs, it is not through entropy (like death), it would be because of a dedication of the journey through mind-full-ness, with the end result being wholeness with all things, outside of the localized mind instead of in it.

When I was twenty, I took my mindfulness practice into the forest for 40 nights, with the intention to pray and fast and meditate in nature. There, I connected me with the whole of everything, yet still, there have been times in my own practice that I have felt like my mind was jammed-ness, not just full-ness, like stop-and-go traffic on a freeway. While being positive about it, I consider it humanizing, but paradoxically also an agitation.

At certain times of the year this is worse than others, similar to construction season, but more like from certain lifestyle occurrences. It so happens periodically. When I am all “jammed up” during meditation, it is usually from life factors that contribute to it: stressful relationships, a lack of physical activity, processing too much information at once, or not having practiced mindfulness enough surrounding the attempt.

While certain thoughts may snag my attention, like a gravitational pull, but actually more like a neuro-feedback loop, the purpose of mindfulness is to still the mind, maybe even by driving it in the direction of an open road. Regardless of what the destination is, the whole point is to observe my thoughts, instead of judge them.

When the mind is in a mindful place, when the eyes are closed, and when you are all tuned in to the best of your ability, the mind becomes like a camera. The slower the shutter speed, the prettier the picture the mind creates, like cars all lit up at night on slow motion. This is the purpose of meditation: to observe the thoughts and slow them down. That way, you can appreciate mind-full-ness for what it is—a chance to observe the lights of the mind, as the electric signals in the brain that shape your consciousness—the way headlights shape a road.

As a fan of photography, I have found some of the best photos of traffic are in slow motion, some of which I know have been taken from bridges. I am reminded of one in particular, which is off 35W facing North to Minneapolis. Most people probably can think of a place that photographers go in their city to capture traffic; for me, the one I am thinking of is overlooking a highway that leads to the skyline. It’s not just a pretty picture to imagine while zooming in on the steady flow of electric signals on the road and the mind, it is the metaphorical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that meditation strives for.

These bridges offer an outlook, just like meditation does. Mind-full-ness is a bridge over troubled traffic that offers us a better look at the thoughts patters that we deal with. Whether the processing speed is fast or slow, the effort is the most important part of the attempt to capture the mind in motion. Roads are meant to be driven on, so don’t be discouraged by the passing of cars. Riding with them is a journey, either leading to novelty, or just as a ride back to where you started, which might even feel like home!