Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present; aware of where we are and what we’re doing, feeling and thinking right now. It’s about turning off our autopilot and learning to respond rather than react in situations brought on by stress, emotions or triggers.
We strengthen our "mindfulness muscle" using awareness-based meditations or practices that use anchors to enable us to direct our attention. In this way, we develop skills that we can then apply to everyday life.
By not worrying about the past or feeling so anxious about the future, we can experience more pleasure, joy and happiness in the present moment. By doing this we appreciate the important things, the smaller things and can live a more rewarding and fulfilling life.
It has been proved that practising mindfulness can reduce stress, manage anxiety, enhance self-awareness, improve attention span, generate kindness to others, help fight addictions, manage physical and emotional pain, improve sleep and decrease blood pressure.
There is a certain image that mindfulness can seem inaccessible and unachievable to some. So, it is important to know that mindfulness is not about emptying our minds or trying to achieve any special state, vision or belief. Read more about Dispelling Myths here.
Meditation is something everyone can do, anywhere, any age. No special equipment is needed; just you, a quiet space and an open mind. It's important to try out different mindfulness practices to find out what suits you best. Also remember, that even if you only have a few minutes to do it each day it's a great start.
You can weave mindfulness into daily activities too. By adding small mindful moments, little by little, day by day you can become more aware, happy, compassionate, grateful and generally improve your overall wellbeing.