Practicing mindfulness is about being aware–aware of your environment, your emotions, your thoughts, your body and its responses. This awareness provides valuable information which we can use to live better.
Mindfulness is a practice that helps us focus our attention in the present moment.
Mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, in a particular way. The particular way of paying attention is nonjudgmentally, and with kindness and compassion.
We spend a lot of our lives busily going from one task to the next. We are often rehashing the past or worrying about the future. We often miss the present moment. Practicing mindfulness helps us to live in the present moment. This is where we find the space to respond in healthier ways to our experiences instead of reacting automatically. We learn to stop living on autopilot.
Practicing mindfulness develops a quality of inner stillness that is always available to us, even when our life circumstances feel out of control and chaotic.
Mindfulness is not inaction. Coming to stillness and being present allows us to better see what action may be needed, what type of response is most beneficial.
Mindfulness helps us:
- Become more aware of the present moment
- Become more aware of our emotions, thoughts, and patterns of reacting
- Become less reactive
- Find the space to choose our response to life
- Learn to be with discomfort and difficult emotions without being overwhelmed
- Become kinder and more compassionate to ourselves and others
