Why Is Mindfulness a Good Practice?
If you are suffering from chronic stress and are looking for ways to help lower your stress levels, you might be interested in mindful living or mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply an eight-week guided process that provides intensive mindfulness training for individuals with chronic stress, anxiety, insomnia and pain. During the training you will learn how to live in the moment, develop an ability to observe things around you without judgment, improve self-awareness and cultivate skills for becoming mindful. The ultimate goal of this practice is to cultivate a sense of mindfulness that can be used to promote healing and well being. The process works well for individuals who are suffering from depression, chronic pain, chronic anxiety, low self-esteem, lack of clarity and creativity, feeling stressed out a lot and/or experiencing insomnia.
The key components to the mindfulness practice include breathing awareness, being present and allowing thoughts to pass by, maintaining a Zen like state of consciousness and relaxing. The first two components, breathing awareness and being present is easy enough to do. Breath awareness requires that you pay attention to your breath. When you pay attention to your breath it is possible to notice when your mind wanders, and by returning your focus to your breath you can regain control of your mind. Being present means that you are fully aware of the moment, even if it is through the glass of your eyes. Being present allows you to let go of worries and concerns so that you can be present with the moment and let the thought of the worry go.
The third component, mindfulness improves self-awareness by removing barriers to access the inner peace, creativity and intuition. Mindfulness allows you to experience heightened awareness in your body, including but not limited to, the sensations of touch, taste and smell. It also enhances creativity because it changes how you think about what you experience and how you respond to those experiences. This leads to improved well-being because it allows you to create new and positive connections between your physical experiences and what you observe in your mind.
Meditation is another excellent way to improve your well-being while you are experiencing the symptoms of a stressful moment. Because meditation connects you to your highest Self, it helps to balance your mind, body and spirit which, in turn, balances your emotions. There are no selfish feelings or judgments because you are connecting yourself to your Higher Power, thus making you a better person to be around. This connection to your Higher Power, your source of strength and true happiness, empowers you with all the energy, strength and happiness that you need to get through that difficult time.
Mindfulness doesn’t mean just sitting still or being quiet and keeping your thoughts to yourself. It means being mindful of what you are doing in each moment, appreciating the good feelings that arise, paying attention to your body sensations without judging them, hearing what’s going on around you without judgment, feeling your stress and emotions without becoming stressed out and dwelling on them and being present with the entire experience of the present moment without judging it. Being present with the experience of the present moment, mindfulness, also means being open to accepting and releasing compassion for yourself, others and things. You can learn to meditate to achieve this state of mindfulness and as you do, you will find yourself connecting to a source of true inner happiness, a source that will provide you with greater well-being.
The best way to practice mindfulness is to pay attention to your thoughts, feelings and sensations in a non-judgmental manner. As you become more skilled at this, your attention will be drawn to the things that you can control and then you can focus on relaxing and resting. As you relax and release negative emotions, you will notice that your breath will become steady and your heart rate will come back to normal. You may notice that you are more aware of yourself as you become more skillful at focusing your attention and enjoying what you are doing. Your mindfulness improves your physical health, increases your creativity and allows you to express yourself more readily.