Every day brings its own unique set of challenges. Some are infinitely easier than others, but those tougher days make it easier to experience the beauty and joy of better times. One way to guide your mind and spirit into a healthier place where you can cope with everything that comes your way is to learn more about mindfulness.
Practicing mindfulness may sound like a lofty task, especially if you’ve only heard it as a buzzword relating to mental health. But there’s so much to this valuable habit, and it can transform your life if you commit to it. Here’s what you should know about the fine art of mindfulness.
What Is Mindfulness?
In simplest terms, mindfulness is an enhanced awareness of your sensations and emotions in the present moment. Practicing it for even a single moment can be a challenge, but to tap into how you feel at all times takes practice. Leaning deeply into only what is happening at that moment — not what happened earlier or what might happen tomorrow — is key to achieving a more peaceful mindset.
Mindfulness also allows you to become an observer of your own life. It takes time and work to recognize your feelings and accept them precisely for what they are at any given moment. One of the reasons that it’s so difficult is because many people are guilty of overthinking. It’s easy to get caught up in the memories of something that could have happened differently or ruminate over the potential ramifications of a conversation that you wish had gone another way. It’s equally easy to mull over possibilities that might never happen.
Bringing attention and awareness to your moment-by-moment thoughts allows you to narrow down your focus. Instead of thinking in the broadest possible terms, your mind grips only to the present. This can help you feel more enlightened and certainly improve your life in a number of significant ways.
How Do You Practice?
It’s important to remember that mindfulness meditation is free. There is no reason to go out in search of tools — because all the tools you need are already hard-wired in your mind. Before you begin, keep in mind that the goal of the process isn’t necessarily to slow down your thoughts. You are who you are, and you will continue to think about how you think and feel how you feel. You may find, however, that your behaviors may change as you continue to become more mindful.
Moreover, you don’t have to do anything special or specific to get started. “Informal” mindfulness allows you to focus on your thoughts and feelings as you go about your daily activities. That could be anything from loading the dishwasher to doing the laundry to grocery shopping. Whatever it might be, your job now is to focus on the moment at hand and take special notice of your thought processes and your body’s responses.
Another method, formal mindfulness, involves specifically focusing on this task by going for a quiet walk or sitting in a silent room. Give yourself a couple of minutes at first, then work your way up as you become more experienced. Focus on breathing evenly, and pay attention to how your body feels. Don’t be surprised at all when your mind starts to think about everything under the sun. It takes serious commitment to move from your usual thought patterns to ones that are more focused.
When you find your brain engaging with worries, fears, news stories, or anything that has nothing to do with the present, immediately pull yourself back to the moment. Doing this repeatedly is the only way to essentially “learn” how to be truly present. Think of your breath as the rope that keeps you tethered to where you are. Focus on it intently so that you can minimize your mind’s connection to other ropes trying to pull you away in all other directions.
Why Is It Important?
There are so many reasons why mindfulness meditation may be helpful to you. For a start, it centers and grounds you. All too often, we spend our time in a state of mental disarray. We’re already working on the next thing before we’ve even finished the first. We’re creating to-do lists for next week when this one has barely started. We’re worried about what’s next when we don’t even know what today will bring.
Mindfulness is essentially a way of nourishing and soothing that chaos. Think of it as a balm of sorts. With regular practice, you may notice that your stress and anxiety become less severe, you feel more empathetic, and your general quality of life improves. Again, be patient with yourself. The more you practice, the better you will feel.
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