What is Mindfulness and why should I give it a try?
The basics
All that happens in your long and eventful life happens in one place, your mind. Mindfulness is a way to learn more about your mind, your self, and your life. With greater knowledge and understanding you are more capable of making decisions that benefit you and your mental health.
A little deeper
Mindfulness is a way of being. Observing the present moment without judgment. A state of conscious awareness where one is at peace with the way things are.
How do I do it?
Mindfulness is about shifting the focus of your consciousness. When you watch yourself having a thought or feeling an emotion, who is doing the watching? Imagine all that happens within your mind is a TV programme, available for you to watch. You are not just your thoughts, you are something beyond all that, able to consciously observe your happening. Connect with and become the observer of your mind as regularly as you like. This is being mindful.
Remembering to be mindful is the hardest challenge for most. It is easy to be lost in thought, distracted by life’s story playing out in the mind. Our attention is so often caught by events from the past and imaginations of the future. Rarely do we find ourselves here and now.
Once you regularly bring your focus to your present moment, you begin to see how things really are. Your thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and how you interact with the world around you.
How to observe without passing judgment on what you see? This is the ultimate goal of mindfulness. Our minds want to give an opinion, meaning much of mindfulness practice is spent observing our opinions on what we observe. Keep watching, with patience, softness, and compassion; things will change.
Where do I begin?
The best place to begin is your breath. Whether you observe it or not, your breath is always there, in flow. Bringing awareness to your breath is a powerful gateway to your present moment, where so much else is waiting to be noticed.
Your breath serves as an anchor for presence, bringing greater calm and focus to your mind, useful in moments of stress.
Simple activity for you to try
Whilst doing an activity that requires some of your patience (chores, queuing, stressful conversations etc.) shift your focus to your breath. Don’t try to change the pace of your breath, just allow it to be as it is. Watch it drift in and out. Be in that moment, fully. Notice how your experience is changed just by watching your breath. Try this technique in many different situations and observe the results. Your breath is always there, waiting to be noticed.
What are the benefits?
Practicing mindfulness encourages concentration, resilience, and a calmer perspective on the true nature of things.
Being aware in the present reveals abundance and depth within each moment, offering an expansion of experience, sensation, and understanding. Presence gifts great joy from what is already there.
Learning more about your self is critical for making clearer decisions. Understanding the habits of your mind gives you the opportunity to control it. Being calm with how things are opens you to change and acceptance of self.
Scientific research has shown improvements in focus, regulation of emotions, empathy, creativity, patience, physical well-being, sleep, and reduction in stress.
Summary
We happen within our mind. Mindfulness is a way of observing your happening without judgment. Be calm with what you see, and don’t worry if you’re not. Observe breath to find the present. Presence opens an abundance of experience. Mindfulness is a tool for a life of your choosing.
Good luck, and try to be kind with yourself, mindful or not.
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