Mindfulness practices seem to be becoming more and more popular these days, but what does this word even mean? In this post, you’ll learn the answer to this question and learn how you can start your own mindfulness practice today.
What is mindfulness?
A mindfulness practice is a simple practice that can improve your quality of life, especially in those more everyday, mundane seeming moments. Even though it’s a simple practice, it’s something that we are often pulled away from pretty easily which is why it’s important to make a conscious effort to practice mindfulness.
To start with a basic definition, being “mindful” simply means to be aware of something. To take this a step further, mindfulness is when you are truly aware and conscious in the present moment. Practicing mindfulness is practicing being aware of what is going on in the present without judgment. You are present with a calm curiosity, living in connection with your body, mind, and soul.
Why is having a mindfulness practice so important today?
It’s important for all of us to have a mindfulness practice, or at the very least, to simply take moments where we remind ourselves to be mindful in the present.
This is because so many of us live our lives in an “unconscious” state. What I mean by “living in an unconscious state,” is that you just go through the motions of your day without ever stopping to process what’s going on. You go through your life without taking moments to slow down. You go about most days without being actually present.
The problem with this is that when you’re living in this “unconscious” state, you’re usually not living in the present. You’re instead living in the past or future. Most of the time when we live in the past, it’s not past happy memories, it’s usually past things that we think went wrong. When we live in the future, most of the time it’s not because we are excited for something, it’s often dread about what we need to do or what we think will happen. This is a generalization, but I’m sure that many of you know what I mean.
When you’re unconsciously living in the past and future, you’re also likely approaching life with more negative emotions which can cause stress. If you’re living in a constant state of stress, this obviously isn’t ideal. Sometimes we live in such a constant state of stress that we aren’t “consciously” aware of it. When this happens, our state of living starts to become unconscious and we feel like it’s normal. But living in constant stress is not normal and will eventually take its toll on us either physically, mentally, or spiritually.
Mindfulness isn’t a quick fix but it's totally worth it.
Now I’m not saying that mindfulness is a quick fix or the only thing that you need to do for stress relief, but practicing mindfulness is an amazing way to reduce stress.
This kind of practice takes time, so you may not see the results right away, but that’s because you’re working on changing habits that have likely been ingrained into your brain for years. Your brain gets so used to living in a state of stress and worry, or living in the past and future, that it takes work to train it to be in the present. Living mindfully does take time and consistent practice, so give yourself time and grace when working on living this way.
When you practice being more mindful, you’re able to assess when things are not in balance. There are always going to be stressors in life and that’s ok, it’s how we respond to stress that determines the outcome.
The more mindful and conscious you are, the faster you’ll realize when you’re going down a path that you don’t want.
Using myself as an example, I would say that I live pretty mindfully. This doesn’t mean that I’m perfectly calm and in the present moment 24/7, but I am very self aware of when I’m moving away from living mindfully. This awareness allows me to adjust much quicker than my past self. A mindfulness practice really does deepen your connection with yourself and helps you become much more self aware.
When you become more mindful, you improve your ability to assess yourself and what’s going on, and you are able to adjust as needed.
Say I’m having a day where I’m frustrated or irritable. Past, unmindful me, would not have done anything about it which would have caused me to be in that negative space longer. This would lead to more “negative” things such as me being unproductive or interacting with others more negatively. Now that I practice mindfulness, when these negative emotions come up like say frustration, I can take a step back and look for what I can do to change this. Whether it be to sit in meditation or change the activity that I’m doing, it doesn’t matter what it is, the point is that you recognize the issue and adjust.
If you’re someone with a menstrual cycle, you might notice that your feelings and emotions are different at certain points throughout the month. Sometimes being mindful might be giving yourself grace and love recognizing that you’re a cyclical being that will have different emotions and feelings throughout your cycle. And you can apply this even if you don’t have a menstrual cycle because all of our emotions are fluid. But for those with a monthly cycle, sometimes taking that step back, even if it’s hormones changing how you feel, can still help you to feel more calm and centered.
Negative feelings and emotions are going to come up in life and that’s ok. They are part of the human experience. It’s how we respond to these emotions that determines how much control they will have over us.
How do you actually have a mindfulness practice?
I think a common misconception is that you need to meditate to practice mindfulness. While meditation is a wonderful practice for mindfulness and is something that I love to use personally, it’s not the only way.
Any activity that helps you to be fully in the present moment allows you to practice mindfulness. A physical based yoga practice like vinyasa can be a very mindful practice because you’re working to be present on your mat and on letting everything else fade into the background. But mindfulness practices aren’t limited to yoga and meditation, walking in nature, painting, or really anything that allows you to focus your mind on the present moment will work!
When you practice mindfulness, you’re also approaching the present moment with a sense of curiosity and creating space for yourself to notice things that you might miss when you just go through the motions. The way the breeze feels on your face. The way the water feels on your skin while you shower. The way your body feels as you move through a yoga practice. The way you are feeling yourself, emotionally, energetically or physically. Pausing to notice these things creates space for you to take a step back and choose consciously how you want to respond to both your internal and external environment.
Our mind’s love to create lots of thoughts or “mental chatter.” This mental chatter will probably come up during your mindfulness practice and that’s ok. The more you practice tuning this out and focusing back on the present moment, the quieter this chatter will get.
Even just taking time for a pause during your day to be present without judgment can be a mindfulness practice. Say there’s a task that you normally do with a distraction like watching tv while you eat or listening to an audiobook while you wash dishes, you can take away that distraction and just allow yourself to be in the present moment.
Because this is another challenge in modern day. Not only do we have to deal with trying to keep our minds from wandering to the past and future, but we have to try to not be constantly in the distraction phase. This can be difficult because it’s so easy to distract ourselves. With this in mind, remember that practicing mindfulness can be simply allowing yourself to sit and do nothing without distractions or to do a mundane task without distractions. And it doesn’t have to be all of the time, I too enjoy listening to things while I’m doing household tasks, but it can be really beneficial to take that away every once in a while.
So in summary....
Mindfulness is about being truly conscious in the present moment. We are shifting from moving through life unconsciously to consciously.
When we practice mindfulness, we release judgments. We recognize any emotions and sensations that come up, but don’t place judgments on them. When you don’t judge yourself for feeling any negative feelings, it’s easier for them to pass. The more you practice mindfulness, the less your emotions will sway, and you’ll find yourself living in a more centered state connected with your entire being.
The beauty of life is all around us even in the mundane moments, we just need to live consciously to experience it.
Mindfulness practices are a simple yet powerful way to really feel into the beauty of this human experience.