In this crazy, hectic world, mindfulness is more important than ever.
Basically, Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment
In order to be cognizant of where you are and what you're doing, in order to avoid being overly reactive and better cope with what’s going on around you. When you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses and state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful.
The goal of mindfulness is to enhance awareness of the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes.
It teaches us that we are not our thoughts; not only does it help to improve well-being and reduce stress, but it can actually change our brains. In fact, research on brain structure has found it can increase grey matter volume, which helps with learning, memory, decision-making, and emotional regulation.
There are many ways of practicing mindfulness
Yoga, meditation, walking meditation, and even social interaction in group settings.
Now that you know how mindfulness can help create peace of mind, reduce stress, and increase brain health - how can you best practice it? There are 7 main approaches:
Being non-judgemental with yourself
This is important so that you can be an impartial witness to your experiences.
Being patient with yourself
Patience is a form of wisdom that demonstrates acceptance of yourself just the way you are.
Having a curious and open mind
Keeping your mind open allows you to be receptive to events in your life as they happen.
Trusting yourself
Developing a basic trust of yourself and your feelings will ease stress and increase tranquility as you go about your busy day.
Non-Striving
Not comparing yourself to others and allowing yourself to accept that as long as you do your best, that's the best you can do, and it's ok.
Acceptance
Learning to accept yourself as you are can feel quite liberating.
Letting Go
Change is inevitable -when you learn to embrace change and let go of the things in life beyond your control, you can achieve inner peace.
Meditation can be an important factor to help increase mindfulness, allowing you to focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. This practice involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.
Meditation has been studied in many clinical trials. It can help you experience your thoughts and emotions with greater balance and acceptance in order to improve attention, decrease job burnout, improve sleep, and help control diabetes. Recent studies have shown it can even help people with asthma and fibromyalgia. The overall evidence supports the effectiveness of meditation for various conditions, including:
Stress
Anxiety
Pain
Depression
Insomnia
High blood pressure (hypertension)
There are many simple ways to practice mindfulness.
Paying attention
It's hard to slow down and notice things in a busy world. Try to take the time to experience your environment with all of your senses — touch, sound, sight, smell and taste. For example, when you eat a favorite food, take the time to smell, taste and truly enjoy it.
Living in the moment
Try to intentionally bring an open, accepting and discerning attention to everything you do. Find joy in simple pleasures.
Accepting yourself
Treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend.
Focusing on your breath
When you have negative thoughts, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help.
Conclusion
Simple mindfulness exercises can be practiced anywhere and anytime. It's all about endless, non-judgemental exploration of yourself, and not a fixed destination.
Enjoy every sensational that the journey has to offers without worrying about it’s destination.
by Skyler Pannekoek