Is Mindfulness just a buzzword? A simple Google search of the term returns over 134,000,000 results! With thousands of blogs, articles, websites, magazines, even apps for our devices, it’s easy to believe we’ve heard enough about the topic. It might seem mindfulness is just another fad or passing trend. On the contrary, I believe it is relevant for each and every one of us. I believe it is a basic life skill, an essential component in creating the life we want to live!
There are far too many forms of mindfulness practices and their myriad benefits to cover in one post, but if I can pique your interest enough to inspire your own exploration, I will have done my job. Let’s just start at the beginning. (in case you haven’t read one of the thousands of blogs/articles/websites I mentioned above)
What is it?
Mindfulness is a practice that is thousands of years old, with roots in spiritual and religious traditions. In recent decades it has been brought into mainstream through complementary practices such as meditation, yoga, and other stress reduction modalities.
“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. It’s about knowing what is on your mind.”
“Mindfulness is the simple, yet challenging discipline of noticing what you are doing when you are doing it and becoming master, rather than slave, to the impulses of your mind.”
“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”
The gift of a mindfulness practice is seeing clearly where we are and what we are doing, so we can begin to consciously participate in creating our life experience. No longer simply reacting, but purposefully choosing different thoughts, happier thoughts, compassionate thoughts, hopeful thoughts that reflect how we ultimately want to live our life. I believe mindfulness is a critical starting point for all that we yearn for in life: peace and calm, happiness and joy, direction and clarity, health and wellbeing.
How does it work?
Mindfulness is practiced in many forms, but let’s look at one example of the process and the benefits it provides.
We begin by simply focusing on our breathing in order to
quiet the chatter in our minds
calm our emotions
slow down the frenetic energy we experience when things are stressful
Think of it as hitting the “PAUSE” button.
In that moment of pause, we are able to notice what we are doing, thinking, and feeling.
Our brains (working as they are designed to work) will continue producing thoughts.
Our job is simply to notice them. Not to engage with them or judge them.
Simply notice them as if watching them scroll by on a movie screen.
Just taking stock without any judgment.
By not engaging, we allow relaxation and gain awareness.
Doing the process regularly helps us begin to recognize our habitual thoughts. For example, we may frequently notice our inner critic telling us we “could / should do better” or “things will never change.” We may even find ourselves thinking “There I go again!” but that’s exactly the point. When we notice what we’re thinking over and over again, we identify the opportunities for choosing a different thought, a different perspective, or letting an issue go all together.
Why is it relevant?
What most of us probably know: Mindfulness will help us relax, deal with stress, and create better health and wellbeing.
What we may be missing: Mindfulness creates a new sense of self… a new understanding of who we are… and opens the door to living deliberately to create our own happiness.
With mindfulness, we begin “living on purpose” instead of simply reacting to what shows up. How much happier will we be choosing how we experience life? Imagine the freedom of releasing the beliefs and habits that don’t serve us. What will it feel like to let go of societal expectations, guilt, self-doubt, and perfectionism to fully embrace our talents, our quirks, our dreams?
How will it feel to finally befriend ourselves?
This is the profound gift of mindfulness I think we sometimes overlook.
So where do we begin?
It depends on where are you on the road to living more mindfully.
Never tried it? Just beginning? Here are some excellent resources to learn what it is, why it matters, and how you can begin even a simple practice today:
Already practicing? These resources may help you take your practice even deeper:
But wait… where’s the “magic”?
Yes.. I did promise that in the title. It’s tricky because the magic of mindfulness can be both simple and life altering.
When I find myself having a bad day and am mindful enough, I can catch my errant thoughts. I try to replace them with things like: “I’m doing the best I can” “Things always work out” “Life is too short to worry about this” “I do love all these other things right now” “This is my life and I’m going to enjoy it!” When I’m genuine about choosing new thoughts, my day inevitably shifts for the better. Poof! Just like that! It was an inside job. It was mindfulness. No outside circumstances had to change for my mood to be lighter, my day to be happier, and my outlook to be more hopeful. Now that’s a bit of magic!
But I believe it gets even better… Mindfulness has the potential to give us a deeper sense of who we truly are and what life is all about. The more we practice looking within, we begin dropping the labels, rules, and expectations we’ve identified with for so long. We begin to encounter the mystery of who we are beyond our bodies, our personalities, our minds. We may begin to ponder the big questions: Who are we, really? Why are we here? How does it all work? What is my role? With quiet minds we may begin to realize some greater truths. If simply taking time to slow down and pay attention (mindfulness) can bring me closer to answering those big questions, I consider that magic, indeed.
We are all on a journey of waking up to the truth of who we are. I believe mindfulness is an essential part of that journey and a practice that I find myself beginning over and over again. I invite you to explore mindfulness as the first step toward living an authentic, thriving, fulfilling life. Experience the magic for yourself!
With wonder and possibility,
Mary
P.S. Head over to our Evidently page for more interesting articles on Mindfulness!