Mindfulness, and Why You Should Be Using It

Mindfulness, and Why You Should Be Using It

So, you’ve probably heard about mindfulness being ‘all the rage’. Your friends have talked about it, you’ve read about it on social media, and everyone’s saying the same thing: it’s awesome, right? But, if you’ve never really got it, i.e. you didn’t understand it or maybe just weren’t too interested in the whole concept, you probably need some proper info based actual experience - let's get started!

Mindfulness: “the psychological process of bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which one can develop through the practice of meditation and through other training.”

So, you’ve probably heard about mindfulness being ‘all the rage’. Your friends have talked about it, you’ve read about it on social media, and everyone’s saying the same thing: it’s awesome, right?

However, if you’re reading this, you’ve never really got it, i.e. you didn’t understand it or maybe just weren’t too interested in the whole concept *raises hand* (I was in the same boat😉). Or maybe you’ve already started researching mindfulness and landed here for some info. There’s that too, and it’s no bad thing. 🙏 Let’s continue.

The thing is, although I started off a bit detached from the idea of practicing mindfulness in the beginning, after a while of sticking with the practice I realised why a lot of people love to rave about it. With age we live in, the ability to truly stop and take stock of a situation is life changing; we’re super busy, and we need to make sure we don’t wear ourselves down with stress.

You commute, you answer to your boss, you study, you hang with friends, you look after your family, you worry about finances, you make sure you're eating healthy and at the end of the week, you plan your weekend.

But in all of that, you can start to lose your connection with how you feel, and your ability to live in present moment. You start to become disconnected and numb to the senses and experiences around you, and if you’re not careful, start walking through life instead of enjoying it.

I know, because it all happened to me.

When I was in the thick of my exams and my weight struggle, I would study mindlessly for hours on end, and in my free time, worry about whether I was exercising enough to change the way I looked in the mirror. I skipped fun events & family time, and I stopped working to maintaining the connections with the people I loved.

I was overwhelmed with relatively simple and small problems that felt MASSIVE, and I didn’t even realise it until it started to contribute to my physical health. I suffered from low energy, headaches, weight fluctuations, and muscle soreness.

My body was literally breaking down.

My big break in my healing was discovering mindfulness; I could do everything physically that I could to fix myself, but without working on my mind I wasn’t going to get anywhere. 🤔

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing all or your attention on the present, appreciating the moment and a larger perspective of life, and accepting it without worry or judgment.

By running through this process via meditation I found myself able to let go faster and really center myself in the moment. This lead me to be more accepting and more forgiving of both myself, and what I felt I hadn’t accomplished. I taught myself to love the small, simple, and ‘unimportant’ things about myself and my day/day’s activities.

Instead of fixating on the fact I hadn’t yet written a piece of study work or done a morning yoga routine, I thought about the fact that I was able to spend the day helping my sister with her crafting project, and how lucky I was to have her in my life and also how awesome it was that she thought enough of me and my company to even ask me in the first place.

Taking a more mindful approach to living makes it easier to be satisfied with the pleasures of life as they occur.

This doesn’t mean completely letting go of any goals or expectations you might have, but simply to have a little more present-moment awareness.

Today, people are super distracted; yes, we as humans have a naturally higher propensity to e distracted in the first place, but now there’s also social media, TV, bills, magazines, body image, etc., and these are just some of the things we dwell too much on in this day and age. 😣

The consequences of mind-wandering is that it negatively impacts our happiness and health. (It’s true!) Research even says so.

With mindfulness, you will practice returning to the present. Being present will take practice, but you will eventually fall into it and become less likely to get caught up in the future and past.

Your self-esteem will improve and you’ll form deeper connections with other people. (Isn’t higher self-esteem what we all were aiming for in the first place?)

Your life is stressful - we have a problem.

… and mindfulness can help.

It will become easier to relieve stress, depression, conflicts, and anxiety. 

You see, being mindful, will act as a fire alarm! If you’re looking at the greater picture, you’ll notice that stressors aren’t always as stressful or annoying as they usually seem. 👍

I believe that mindfulness works, in part, by helping people to accept, rather than to react.

This leads to a calmer, happier you!

Mindfulness can help free us in every moment, whether through meditations, or mindful moment practices like pausing and taking time to breathe and focus when you get a text instead of rushing to text back.

Now you know a bit about mindfulness and its benefits, wanna get started?

Using my experience (which I talked about above), I created a FREE 4 Day Mindfulness Discovery Guide Program with a bonus quick Complete Sensory Mindful Meditation.

This 4-day guide is perfect for people who are just getting started; you will learn how to incorporate mindfulness into everyday life and become your MOST mindful self. See you there!

Stay in the moment,

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