What is Mindfulness?
And how to practice it
Mindfulness is the human ability to be fully aware of himself, his feelings, actions, and his surroundings, without being excessively reactive towards or overwhelmed by what is happening around him.
It is innate to human nature and can be accessed and cultivated by conscious efforts and practice.
Scientific experiments have proved that its effective practice not only transforms your perception and way of living but also helps your mind in reaching its maximum potential.
Ways to Practice Mindfulness
There are numerous ways by which you can master the art of mindfulness, and these may vary across individuals. What works for some might fail for others. However, there are a few basic and general techniques that have been found effective for most people.
- Take a day off from your fast-paced life, hold all your future plans for a little while and slow down. Focus on the present and you will see a lot of your complicated issues that had been boggling your mind for a long time unwind in front of you in no time!
- Don’t hustle and take one thing at a time. Don’t rush to tick off all the things from your checklist at once, rather, concentrate on the completion of a single task before jumping on to the next one.
- Switch off your phone and Wi-Fi for a day once in a while and focus your attention system on something else. It has been proven through various psychological tests that putting down your phone cuts down stress levels tremendously and helps you pay attention to those little yet soulful things that you might have been missing out on. It is of great importance to limit your screen time and to take a break from communication technology.
- Concentrate on the little everyday things that you do. Have you ever washed dishes or done laundry while your mind was somewhere else and you ended up making errors in it? Have you found yourself wondering why you forgot the minute details about that specific task later on? It was probably because you were mentally absent. Well, you can practice mindfulness by focusing all your concentration on these uninteresting and simple things by willfully noticing your feelings and sensations at that time and you will discover that such seemingly unimportant things can help you stay present and fully aware.
- You can also practice mindfulness through meditation and exercises like yoga, sports, dancing, even simpler forms like walking up the stairs or breathing, and hence practicing to maintain your focus on them.
Why practice it?
When you become mindful, your cognitive abilities of attention and concentration get incredibly enhanced. It boosts your performance quality and awareness regarding yourself as well as your surroundings via observation, without judgment.
Psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety, which are quite prevalent across the globe these days, can be fought by incorporating mindfulness into your life as it helps in regulating emotions. It gives you a sense of well-being when you find yourself conscious in each moment and results in a significant decrease in stress levels. In workplace settings, it increases resilience and helps in conflict resolution while improving communication with seniors, co-workers, and subordinates. It makes you both curious and kind towards others and other workplaces. It also helps in education, social life, and criminal justice systems.
Now that lives have become extremely hectic, escaping this frantic rat race and unleashing your inner human capabilities by practicing mindfulness has become a necessity, as it is a safe and natural way of attaining mental health and benefiting in every aspect of your life.