The Martian is the story of a mission to Mars set sometime in the near future. During a particularly violent storm on the planet’s surface the crew abort the mission and leave, believing that  Astronaut Mark Watney has been killed by flying debris.

Watney regains consciousness to discover he is alone on a planet with no breathable atmosphere and no water. He’s 50 million miles from home and everyone thinks he’s dead.

At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you, and you’re going to say, ‘This is it. This is how I end.’ Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem and you solve the next one, and then the next. And If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.” 

This seems rather simplistic considering that his position could not be more precarious or his isolation more complete. But at the same this is a story about overcoming the seemingly impossible by refusing to let it intimidate you and on that level it has resonance for all of us.

By being mindful Watney exists within each sequential problem, giving it his full and undivided attention before moving on to the next.

By so doing he avoids the paralysis that can set it when we allow our focus to shift to the big picture with its multiple problems. He also gets to live  the journey rather than the destination.

We're going to look at the concept of Active Mindfuless and how we can use it to take back control when it all goes south on you.