What is Mindfulness?
Have you ever driven your car somewhere and arrived at your destination only to realise you remember nothing about your journey? Or started eating a packet of crisps and then suddenly noticed all you had left in your hands was an empty packet? Most of us have!
These are some common examples of ‘mindlessness’ – A state we also often refer to as being on ‘autopilot.’
How mindfulness can help you
Mindfulness is the opposite of mindlessness.
It means waking up out of autopilot and ‘taking the steering wheel’ of our attention again. It can provide us with the tools to learn to become the master, and not the slave, of our minds.
We practice mindfulness by maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and the surrounding environment.
Mindfulness also involves non-judgment, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings with the attitude of an impartial witness — without believing them or taking them personally.
We can begin to recognise the ways in which we contribute to our own discontent and can decide to make a change.
Mindfulness meditation offers us that opportunity.
Background to Mindfulness
This form of meditation practice stems primarily from the Buddhist tradition and was intended as a means of cultivating greater awareness and wisdom, helping people to live each moment of their lives as fully as possible.
While some forms of meditation involve focusing on a sound or phrase in order to reduce distracting thoughts, mindfulness training does the opposite. In mindfulness meditation, you don't ignore distracting thoughts, sensations or physical discomfort, rather, you focus on them.
Don’t just take our word for it ...
WHAT THEY SAY
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