What is Mindfulness.. What it Is, what it is not and what it can do for us.
Mindfulness is Awareness, Paying Attention, Being in the Moment.
Mindfulness teaches us to direct our attention to what is happening right here, right now, with an attitude of openness and kindness.
We begin to let go of the internal dissatisfaction and judgement towards ourselves, others and our experience.
We build the ability to be accepting of situations yet have the awareness of possibility.
We are often unaware of the effects of our thinking, yet it has a profound effect on how we live our lives, as well on our mental and emotional health.
When we become Mindful we realise that what we think affects how we feel, how we feel affects how we behave and how we think, feel and behave becomes our way of being. This allows for a much greater level of personal responsibility and possibility.
The simple practice of tuning in with our experience – being aware of how we are feeling, thinking, seeing, smelling, hearing, doing.. is a Mindfulness practice but be sure to bring a gentle attitude to it do not judge it as being nice / not nice, good / bad, like / don’t like..
Just be open and aware of experiences as they are.
Connecting to the breath is a great way to bring us into the moment, just take the time to notice as you breath in and notice as you breath out, take the time do not rush the breath, do not judge it (right / not right), notice when your mind wanders of and notice how it is to bring your attention back..
What is Mindfulness…What Mindfulness it is not…
Mindfulness is not positive thinking, it is not about having only good feelings. It does not help us to get rid of unwanted thoughts and feelings, it helps us to actually be with them and learn to manage them. Our usual reaction to uncomfortable or distressing thoughts or feelings is to push them away and try to get rid of them. With mindfulness we learn to turn towards the difficulties, challenges and pain in our lives, because they are here anyway with an attitude of allowing and kindness.
This is a gentle process, not a forceful one, and it happens gradually as we build emotional and mental strength and resilience. Resistance and avoidance require a lot of energy and when we learn to soften them a little and actually allow ourselves to be as we are, and our experience to be as it is, we find that we free up a lot of energy which can now go into seeing more clearly, making wiser choices and taking wiser action.
What is Mindfulness…Mindfulness is not relaxation.
Becoming more relaxed may be a welcome side effect of mindfulness practice, but it is not the aim. As we develop mindfulness we begin to see our lives, our behaviours and relationships more clearly and this is not always easy.
That is why the attitude we bring to the practice is one of needs to be one of kindness, patience, non-judgement and self-compassion.
What is Mindfulness…What can Mindfulness do for us..
It can help:
• Develop greater self-awareness
• Increase our ability to manage stress
• Improve our physical and psychological health,
• Reduce anxiety and depression,
• Reduce tension, anger and fatigue,
• Enhance relationships,
• increase vitality
• Aid better sleep
• Developing stronger immunity
What is Mindfulness…Continued Mindfulness practice has been shown to support the treatment of: addiction, cancer, eating disorders, chronic pain, anxiety, suicide, borderline personality disorder, relationship enhancement in couples and many other areas.
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