In this 2018 talk from the TEDxStLouis archive Jo Pang, of Culture Wise, discusses how mindfulness can help to transform a person. He discusses how often people constantly seek mindfulness from all external traits instead of seeking it from internal traits of themselves.

He has observed a few traits identified in a conversation between two people as strangers being introduced to each other. These traits have played a pivotal role in understanding how people usually discover themselves to uncover who they are, from an external sense of themselves. 

These are three primary personal traits that are commonly displayed:

Discovering External Traits: Work and Family

Work and family are easily described and understood as the primary trait displayed by a person. As they will talk about their personal self and family next. This could possibly include details about the members of the family, and work-related information such as profession, experiences etc. 

Discovering Personality Traits: Emotions and Beliefs

Various types of beliefs or followings such as religion and political beliefs are usual personal information that one would share in a similar conversation with another whereas emotions are a mix of feelings and behavioral factors of a person that can be observed. 

Discovering Higher Purpose: “Wise Self” and Values

The third dimension of achieving mindfulness is to be wiser and more compassionate than before and to inculcate more values with a higher purpose.

As a gift of meditation, mindfulness can transform a person’s entire life on a different dimension. This practice of mindfulness also has the ability to enable a person to be more composed, collected and to have more compassion towards any pain. 

Jo says these key insights and practices help to achieve mindfulness:

Realization that inner peace and happiness does not come from external conditions.

The belief of achieving mindfulness through meeting external conditions such as an achievement are known to be impractical as any external condition such as a sacrifice or achievement alone does not give inner peace or happiness in the long term. 

Practice being present with who we are and what we have.

Usage of neuroplasticity to develop the brain through meditation to build mindfulness. The development of meditation will be done by multiple sessions where the meditator will have waves of the mind that will settle through meditation to enable a clearer picture. 

Become conscious of what takes you away from presence and peace.

The ability to understand the distractions, learn from them and ignore them whilst focusing on the objective of achieving mindfulness

Create the space to choose our response from a wiser place.

Choosing to avoid any thoughts and emotions to any negativity along with controlling the thought process to not react towards any external aspects.

Discover the peace, compassion, and joy of your true nature.

Reaping the benefits of connectedness, aliveness, deep contentment, and thorough discovery of true self, that will ultimately lead to the transformation inside out.