It’s a busy world. I fold the laundry while keeping one eye on my son and another on the Facebook or IG feed. I plan my day while listening to the radio and driving to school and then I plan the weekend while I am on my 30min lunch break while scoffing food. But in the rush to accomplish necessary tasks, I find myself losing my connection with the present moment—missing out on what I am doing and how I am feeling.
Did you notice whether you felt well-rested this morning? Or that are the flowers are in bloom after all this rain along your route to work?
- Mindfulness is a practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment—and accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness is scientifically being proven to be a key element in stress reduction and overall happiness.
- Cultivation of mindfulness has roots in Buddhism, but most religions include some type of prayer or meditation technique that helps shift your thoughts away from your usual preoccupations toward an appreciation of the moment and a larger perspective on life.
- Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life. Being mindful makes it easier to savour the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events. By focusing on the here and now, you will find that you are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, you are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.
- If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered that mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in a number of ways. Mindfulness can: help relieve stress, treat heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, and alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.
- Psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of a number of problems, including: depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, couples’ conflicts, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Mindfulness works, in part, by helping people to accept their experiences—including painful emotions—rather than react to them with aversion and avoidance.
Mindfulness Techniques
Basic – Sit quietly and focus on your natural breathing or on a word or “mantra” that you repeat silently. Allow thoughts to come and go without judgment and return to your focus on breath or mantra.
Body Sensations – Notice subtle body sensations such as an itch or tingling without judgment and let them pass. Notice each part of your body in succession from head to toe.
Sensory – Notice sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Name them “sight,” “sound,” “smell,” “taste,” or “touch” without judgment and let them go.
Emotions – Allow emotions to be present without judgment. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions: “joy,” “anger,” “frustration.” Accept the presence of the emotions without judgment and let them go.
Urge Surfing – Cope with cravings (for addictive substances or behaviours) and allow them to pass. Notice how your body feels as the craving enters. Replace the wish for the craving to go away with the certain knowledge that it will subside.
What has mindfulness done for you? I love to hear how people are moved, shifted or changed by Mindfulness
LOVE this? You will love my guide to becoming an Empowered Mumma!
