Mindfulness is the practice of living presently.
It is the ability to have full awareness of the present moment, fully engaging with your conscious mind to attend to whatever you are doing.
It's a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting any feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations that may arise exactly as they are.
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What are the benefits of mindfulness?
Living mindfully can have a positive impact on our mental health and wellbeing, improving concentration and focus, promoting contentment and wellness while reducing stress levels and symptoms of anxiety.
Practicing regular mindfulness can improve lifestyle, overall wellbeing and support a healthier state of mind.
Recent studies have also indicated that mindfulness can be effective for improving physical health, helping people to manage diabetes, heart disease and blood pressure.
It is also effective for managing chronic pain, and it can even help to strengthen the immune system.
Taking time to notice your thoughts and feelings allows you to fully experience life, developing a stronger sense of self and deeper self-awareness, enabling you to identify and work through each thought and feeling as they occur.
This can encourage connection to the world and yourself and provide space to process your internal responses, as well as give you the space to appreciate the simpler pleasures in life.
Here are five tips on how to cultivate mindfulness in every day:
Acknowledge
Become aware of the simple pleasures throughout your day. Be mindful of what you have enjoyed. Try to implement more time for these moments, perhaps set an intention each day to do one thing that brings you joy. This can be as simple or as extravagant as you like.
Exercise
Take a mindful walk and as you are out, really take notice of your surroundings. Tap into your senses. What can you see? How do you feel? What can you hear? Notice the colours, sounds and the world around you. Take it all in.
Take your time
In today’s world, we are often multitasking. Rushing from one task to another can bring a sense of business to our lives, causing us to feel overwhelmed or stressed. Be mindful of those bodily responses, when stress starts to rise, step back, take your time, move slower. By taking it a little gentler we can add a sense of calm into our day.
Breathe
The concept of mindful breathing is to pay attention to your breath. Take a few moments each to focus on your breath. Take three long slow breaths, inhale through the nose and exhale mouth - this can help the body regulate promoting relaxation.
Notice
Take note of how you feel throughout the day. Observe what is going on around you. Reflect on your thoughts and feelings around this.
Take a moment
Take a moment to yourself, be still. This mindful practice can help improve focus as well as clear the mind. Taking this time out can help draw you into the moment, bringing a sense of clarity to the mind.
Mindfulness is a way of nurturing ourselves and our experiences through the day, it is not difficult however it does take regular practice.
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