Breaking down what it ACTUALLY means to be mindful
With all of the hype around mindfulness, it’s easy to get lost in the fluff and forget what it really means to be mindful at its core.
Research continues to show that practicing mindfulness can be an extremely powerful tool in increasing positive emotions and decreasing mental health symptoms but what exactly is it?
Is mindfulness the same thing as meditation? is it a breathing exercise? There are so many tools that are used as a vehicle to achieve mindfulness that people often lose sight of what the simple action of mindfulness is.
Mindfulness is the act of being aware of the present and living for the current moment. Not living in the past or thinking about the future.
People who practice mindfulness can identify, acknowledge and accept the thoughts and emotions that they are experiencing while they’re in a mindful state.
One of the reasons this is such an effective tool is because our brains do an excellent job of running on autopilot. Can you relate to winding down your day and realizing you haven’t really been present for it? Ever have a conversation with somebody, only to realize afterwards that even though you were present enough to respond, you weren’t truy listening? How about driving from point A to point B and realizing afterwards that you did it without any thought? Mindfulness is pulling yourself out of this autopilot.
Mindfulness can be especially helpful in combating symptoms of anxiety, depression or even trauma. When you take the time to focus and be aware of your thoughts, you might be pleasantly surprised with how this can positively impact your emotions.
There are a ton of ways to enter the state of mindfulness (and as previously mentioned, this is where the overlap and confusion sometimes come into play; remember the following are tools to facilitate mindfulness but don’t define mindfulness) but here are some of our favorites:
1) 3,3,6 breathing: This breathing exercise can help slow down your heart rate and help you refocus your thoughts to the present. It’s simple: inhale for 3 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds. Do this until you feel yourself start to settle down.
2) Physical grounding: Physical grounding is the act of being aware of what your body is feeling at any given moment. For example, think about the position your feet are in right now. Even though you know they are on the ground, did you feel them on the ground? Similarly,you can be holding something in your hand without actually feeling it.
When you go through the process of slowing down your breathing or physically grounding yourself, it can help you begin the process of being mindful. Once you feel grounded, you can then transition to focusing on what your mind is feeling; what are the thoughts going through your head.
Like anything else, mindfulness takes practice. Don’t get frustrated if you find that initially you struggle with focusing on the present, that’s part of the process. It takes some time but with taking just a couple of minutes a day to check in with yourself, you might start see some results.