You may have heard about mindfulness, but you may not fully recognize what it is and why it matters. Mindfulness can help you achieve a range of health benefits through a simple change in awareness.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is full awareness of the present and your surroundings. It’s not worrying about self-defeating thoughts of the future or past, but instead being in the here and now. It is a practice that has been seen in Buddhism and eastern philosophy and has been adopted in the west as a secular practice that can benefit anyone.
For many people, mindfulness can have its own subjective definition, but this is the general definition.
Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Therapists Can Help
There are many therapists who can teach mindfulness, as well as how to live a much better life free of worry and turmoil. Therapists and counselors can give you more than just marriage advice to help avoid divorce, and instead can teach you techniques that can improve all the aspects of your relationships.
Mindfulness Can Clear Your Mind of Distractions
We all are distracted. Whether we spend too much time on social media or care about what our self-defeating thoughts tell us, we sometimes need a better way to communicate. Mindfulness can certainly help, clearing your mind and your soul. There are many ways you can learn how to free your mind from distractions. From meditation to throwing out every temptation, this can help you be a much better person as a result.
Mindfulness Can Give You Attention to the World
The world really is a fascinating place when you look at it. The way the wind moves around the flowers, the textures of animals’ fur, (like a camel), and the blades of grass that kiss your back when you lie on it. These all sound oddly specific, and that’s because they are.
Mindfulness gives you attention to the little things in your surroundings. This can help you appreciate the makeup of the world around you and allow you to have fun doing so.
Mindfulness Can Improve Your Happiness
In the end, happiness is a bunch of chemicals, but these chemicals are so important in your day-to-day life. When you want to improve your happiness, mindfulness can give you a boost in feel-good chemicals by rewiring the brain and helping with your perspective.
It’s Good for Bonding
What is beautiful about mindfulness is that anyone can do it. Your kids, your grandma, the list goes on. When you want to bond with your family, mindfulness activities can be fun.
For example, you can put different textured items in a box and ask your kid to feel around and guess what they are. Or you can go on a nature walk and play a game of I Spy. The list goes on when it comes to what you can do.
It Costs Zilch
Finally, you can achieve mindfulness for free. There are many activities you can find online, and you can achieve them through meditative breathing, a bit of self-discipline, or being able to find the different nuances in the world around you.
Of course, some people have a hard time learning mindfulness because of how they are wild. A professional therapist can help, along with a mindfulness teacher. With that said, you don’t have to pay a bunch of money to learn it. Try practicing mindfulness and see what it can do for you. You can improve as a person.