Mindfulness is defined as bringing awareness to the present moment without judgement.
Sounds simple, right? And it is, in many ways. It is a simple skill that can help calm your mind and allow you to take action towards what you value.
Although the skill is one that requires you to do very little, it can be difficult to get into the habit of doing something new.
Often when we feel uncomfortable feelings like anxiety or sadness, we attempt to escape them right away. But when we avoid feelings they don’t just disappear. With feelings, “what we resist, persists.”
Have you ever noticed that if you are anxious about an important meeting or test that’s coming up, you might have the urge to ignore the anxiety and just “power through.” Sometimes this can seem to work, but other times, the more you try to “buckle down” and focus the less you are able to do so. You are essentially struggling with your anxiety to beat it into submission.
Try as we might, we can not make feelings go away, and the more we struggle with them the more stuck we become. Feelings come and go in their own time, and if we can reduce our habit to struggle against them, we can move through them with less suffering. This is will free us up to take action towards the things we value.
Here is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness is a tool that teaches us how to allow ourselves to feel the feelings that we may want to avoid, so that they can be released. By practicing mindfulness, we can develop the ability to notice our thoughts and feelings as they come and go without becoming stuck in them.
So how do you begin learning to use mindfulness in your daily life?
Start by taking a moment right now to pause and notice what you’re thinking and feeling. Try naming your thoughts and feelings as they drift through your mind without making a judgement about them. Just notice them.
I like to think of it as just slowing down and paying attention to what’s going on inside. Practicing mindfulness can help you notice your thoughts and internal story, which can help change your relationship to anxious thoughts and feelings.
Here are two mindfulness exercises that you can begin right now:
Simply focus on your breath. Notice how you feel when you breathe in and how you feel when the air is released. Draw your attention to your belly rising and falling, placing your hand on your belly if that helps. Try to keep your focus on your breath for one minute.
Another helpful visualization exercise can be to imagine a flowing stream with leaves drifting on the surface. As the leaves pass by, imagine placing a thought on the leaf and watching it float downstream. Repeat putting thoughts and feelings on individual leaves and watch them float away.
Practicing mindfulness can help us develop the skill of allowing and feeling our feelings rather than becoming stuck and overwhelmed by them.
Mindfulness can not eliminate your uncomfortable feelings, but it can help you struggle less with them.
I’d love to know if you use mindfulness in your daily life, and how it works for you!