Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.
Preparation
Have you ever driven somewhere and realised when you arrived that you couldn’t really remember anything about the journey? Or have you ever eaten a whole packet of biscuits when you were planning to only have one? Or have you stayed up much later than you planned, or even all night, watching ‘just one more’ episode of a TV series? All of these are examples of mindlessness. When we live this way, we are not fully awake and not fully living our lives.
What exactly is mindfulness?
When we are mindful, we are more conscious of our thoughts, our actions and what is happening around us. We might notice a beautiful sunset or really listen carefully to what a friend is saying, rather than planning what we’re going to say next. We are also more aware of our own feelings and our thoughts. Jon Kabat Zinn, who has done a lot to make mindfulness popular, says mindfulness is: ‘Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and without judging.’
So we are consciously deciding what to pay attention to, we are not worrying about the past or planning for the future and we are not trying to control or stop our thoughts or feelings – we’re just noticing them.
Why is mindfulness so popular now?
For most people life is getting busier and busier. Technology means that we always have something to do and there isn’t much opportunity to just ‘be’. People are often doing two or three things at the same time: texting while watching TV, or even looking at their phone while walking along the pavement. People are working longer hours and bringing work home. All this can make us stressed, and mindfulness can be a way of reducing this stress.
What are the benefits of mindfulness?
Research shows that mindfulness reduces stress and depression. It can help you to concentrate, have a better memory and to think more clearly. It can also help people to manage pain better and to improve their sleep, and it can even help you lose weight because you won’t eat that whole packet of biscuits without thinking!
How to become more mindful
Mindfulness Day is celebrated on 12 September, so maybe that would be a good day to try a few mindfulness techniques and see if they make a difference. But, of course, you can try these on any day of the year.
A very simple technique that you could try right now is to close your eyes for a couple of minutes and count how many sounds you can hear. This will help to focus you on what is happening right now.
Another technique is to focus on a piece of food, typically a raisin. Instead of eating it without thinking, slow down. Look carefully at it and notice how it feels in your fingers. Smell it. Then put it on your tongue and taste it. Only then start to eat it slowly, noticing how it feels and how it tastes.
Both of these techniques force you to slow down and focus on the present moment, and there are plenty of other ideas you can find online if you want to try mindfulness for yourself.
Because I am a smoker, and over smoking can become a routine if I am not careful, I will try to control how many cigarettes I am gonna smoke with mindfulness.
The harder I try to give up the more difficult is for me to do it, however eager I can be about it. I don't know how mindfulness can help me to achieve my aim.
Mindfulness is basically forgetting about all our past actions and the future that is waiting for us, and focusing at the moment on the thing we are doing by noticing every action that is being taken. I am going through a hard part in my live at the moment, and mindfulness really helps me successfully overpass all my problems that I have, I wish that everyone reading this will be able to reach his goal.
The word mindfulness can have different connotations but after reading the article, I found out that it is an entirely different phenomenon where most people would think they know about. But in fact, they don't!
Hi, thanks you for the article, and yeah, I try mindfullnes doing guide meditation with an app or TV, I have to say is just like do exercise but for your soul and mind.
I think I have been being mindfulness with another technique not consciously. Mindfulness helps us to keep calm heading every situation.
Thinking of it right now makes want to try it out, i havent tried any mindfulness techniques yet, but im planning to do so.
i think living in an evolutionary world which things happen in a blink of eye would worth trying it and give it a chance to make us grateful for what we have and at the same time enjoying our moments alone or with our loved ones.
I sometimes try to practice mindfulness in my everyday live activities but unfortunately I am not fully focus on what I am doing due to some external distractions. however, I will continue practicing it until i become fully mindfulness.
When I travel, I usually like to see the landscape and to take pictures to keep for myself, I always like to look at it later as a memory. This helps a lot for time to pass quickly and to not get bored.
In the beginning, I did not know anything about mindfulness. I noticed some people practicing meditation. I know that meditation is mindfulness exercise to reduce stress and depression levels and sleeping well.
in the other hand, yoga is also an exercise of mindfulness, it make you happy and increase your consantration.