Mind full or Mindful? What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness, the new buzz on the streets. We are seeing it everywhere. It’s the new black, the new man bun, the new smashed avo. This new trend is sweeping the nation.  

So what exactly is Mindfulness? Well if you googled it you would get:

Mindfulness

ˈmʌɪn(d)f(ʊ)lnəs/

noun

noun: mindfulness

1. 1.

   the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.

   "their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition"
2. 2.

   a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

But what does that even mean?


My understanding:


Focussing our direct attention on what is happening now.


Ways in which we can do this:
- breathe mindfully
- use mindful observation
- even think mindfully.


It’s waking up in the morning and noticing the smell of a freshly ground coffee. It’s walking down the street and observing the cute little dandelions lining the path. It’s allowing particular thoughts and feelings to occur and acknowledging them without judgement.


Basically, we see life through the eyes of curiosity. We let our inner child break free, no inhibitions. Think about it. Kids notice and question everything with innocence. They are inquisitive and aren't afraid of this. Our attention is often so focused elsewhere; like old memories, fantasies, plans or worries. We rarely live right now in the moment and have a tendency to be on autopilot. How many times have you driven somewhere and arrived at your destination without realising how you even got there. Once? Twice? Multiple times? That, unfortunately, is how we drive our lives. We are missing out on actually living.


So mindfulness. The old practice that yogi’s all over the world have been trying to get us to embark on for many years. Deriving from the historical teachings of Buddha and his journey to Nirvana.

Nirvana

nɪəˈvɑːnə/

noun

noun: nirvana

1. (in Buddhism) a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal of Buddhism.

The end of suffering. When I first read that I could not believe how much that resonated with me. I never thought of how much I caused myself to suffer without even realising that it was me doing it to myself.  I don’t know about you but I was the antonym of nirvana. You know those memes that pop up in the Instagram feed talking about your anxieties in the middle of the night, the ones that say things like-

Those memes were literally me and I'm gonna guess that those memes are also you.

So with that lets get to the science of mindfulness. Side note: how funny are we as creatures that we need science to prove to us that something is good for us. We couldn't just listen to the yogi's and trust in what they were saying.


The science behind mindfulness is incredible. The evidence has proven that it has the ability to enhance our overall psychological well-being. It has the ability to:

• Decrease of stress
• Decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Strengthen the immune system
• Improve sleep
• Enhance concentration and memory
• Increase self-awareness
• Develop confidence
• Develop resilience
• Support emotional regulation

You see when we build skills of mindfulness we enable ourselves to access avenues of creativity, flexibility and lateral thinking which allow us to manage challenging situations more rationally. Mindfulness mediation actually reduces the size of the Amygdala, (remember the Smoke Alarm part of our brain I discussed in my earlier article), enabling us to use our frontal lobes more readily and essentially meaning we bounce back from situations easier and possess a more positive and holistic outlook on life. When we are mindful we allow our thoughts and feelings not to be labelled as good or bad and we don’t seek out or avoid those particular emotions. We accept them and act almost as a witness to them as we observe in a nonjudgmental manner.


Now don’t get me wrong being mindful is not as easy as you think. If you’re like me and have spent many years building up those networks within the brain of worrying then your busy brain will be challenged. Our thoughts, feelings, values don't automatically make a switch. For me it is a practise, leading to a practice. Meditating is a beginning step for me on my journey of mindfulness. I find it difficult to meditate solo. I can't just lay in the silence of my bedroom and start focusing on my breathing. I still, after a couple of years, need the candles and diffusers, the calming music and the gentle guidance of someone talking me through it. I attend guided meditations, listen to them on YouTube or on particular mindfulness apps. If you’ve never meditated before than do me a favour. Find somewhere nearby that you can attend for a ‘relaxation session’. They are around. Put yourself first. Schedule some much needed 'me' time' into your busy life. That, I feel, is the first step to making a change from mind full to mindful.