Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a byword for a number of aspects which, along with meditation and strategy, are a key part of the foundation blocks of the Dark Knight's psyche. It means being aware. Aware of yourself, your environment, your past, your present and above all your own will. It is a stepping stone that is located somewhere between meditation and strategy, as the only way it may be comprehensively achieved is through meditation and the only way a competent strategy may be reached and enforced is through a well-informed state of mindfulness.
For an individual to be mindful he or she must understand and attempt to further their understanding of what he or she is and why. You must be aware of your thoughts, the reasons for them, the way your emotion moulds your thoughts, and the consequences which they have upon your actions.
To be mindful you must be aware of your environment, your environment being both the people around you and the resources at your disposal, as well as the resources not at your disposal. A mindful person understands the effects his or her actions have upon the environment and the effects which the environment has upon themselves. Awareness of your environment is a two-way process with the individual changing the environment and the individual learning and adapting in accord with the environment.
A further aspect of mindfulness is the understanding of the past, present and future and the way in which they interact. When studying the present you must be aware of its past so as to enable you to better control the outcome of the present.
Being aware of your own will is perhaps the most important aspect of mindfulness. Your will, driven by your emotions, sets out the whole purpose of your path and is the light that guides you along it.
As your proficiency with mindfulness increases your natural awareness will begin to present itself more firmly. Like intuition, it is a feeling or knowledge about things around which will occur to you and be obvious to you with far less effort then was necessary before. Like all things you wish to excel at you must practice mindfulness too. It will emanate from both your conscious and non-conscious mind, and the Force which is present there, which will become clearer the more adept you become.
Overview
A. Awareness of yourself
You must strive to understand your mind, body and actions, the relationship which they have with each other and what has caused them to be what they are.
B. Awareness of your environment
You must be aware of your environment which means both the people around you, the resources at your disposal and those not at your disposal. You must understand the effect your actions have upon your environment and the effect your environment has upon you. Remember it is a two-way process.
C. Awareness of your past, present and future
You must maintain awareness and understand the change and continuity inherent in the things around you.
D. Awareness of your will
You must keep in mind your dream and higher purpose when you act.
E. Intuition
Intuition is an outcome of mindfulness, the more mindful you become the intuitive becomes your mind. It is an outcome and a result of continually attempting to gain mindfulness.
A, B, C and D must be continually studied, improved and applied by the individual to the individual, and E will follow from these. If there is any single most important precursor of mindfulness it is to be aware that it involves working for continual self improvement.