What's the big deal about Mindfulness? Is it really going to help me? Can I do it wrong?
The benefits of mindfulness (and meditation) are now well evidenced. These include better concentration, reduced anxiety and depression, less stress, reduced pain and increased self-control. If we could bottle it and sell it for it's proven benefits, it would fly off the shelves!
You'll see from these tips that mindfulness isn't particularly tricky or sophisticated. But it is an antidote to being pulled in many directions and breaks the stress of constant 'multi-tasking'.
Here are three mindfulness tips that can be easily slotted into your day:
Stopping
Try stopping, sitting down, and becoming aware of your breathing once in a while throughout the day. It can be for a few minutes, or even five seconds. Let go into full acceptance of the present moment, including how you are feeling and what you perceive to be happening. Don’t try to change anything at all, just breathe. Breathe and let be.
“This is it”
Try reminding yourself from time to time: “This is it”. See if there is anything at all that it cannot be applied to. Acceptance of the present moment has nothing to do with resignation, it simply means a clear acknowledgment that what is happening is happening. Then what happens next, what you choose to do, comes out of your understanding of this moment.
Keep the breath in mind
Try staying with one full in breath as it comes in, and one full out-breath as it goes out, keeping your mind open and free for just this moment. Let go of ideas of getting somewhere or having anything happen. Just keep returning to the breath when the mind wanders, stringing moments of mindfulness together, breath-by-breath.
Inspired by the book ‘Where ever you go there you are’ by Jon Kabat-Zinn.