What is mindfulness?

 

Do you find yourself rushing through life, hardly pausing to take in the beauty around you, feeling run down and stressed?

 

Mindfulness is a way to 

• Become aware of what is happening in every moment,

• Engage with it fully,

• Rediscover the joy of everyday moments, and

• Being fully who you are with all the thoughts, feelings and body sensations that are part of it.

 

As such mindfulness encourages relating to our experience by accepting it with kindness, curiosity and no judgement (Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn) – welcoming all of our experience including the negative and difficult.  As human beings we have a tendency to push difficult or negative thoughts and feelings away, which in the long run often increases our struggle with them. 

 

So the beauty and simplicity of mindfulness is: you don’t have to change who you are as a person!

 

Mindfulness is a skill that can be learned and cultivated by practicing it in your daily life. Through breathing practices, meditation, reflection, and engaging mindfully with ourselves, everyday tasks and the people around us, it teaches being present and responding to life’s ups and downs with awareness.

 

Reported benefits of mindfulness include

• Reduced rumination,

• Stress reduction,

• Less emotional reactivity,

• Satisfying relationships,

• Cognitive flexibility,

• Preventing relapse in depression

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