What I love about mindfulness
Mindfulness is paying attention non-judgmentally on purpose to the present moment.
What I love most about learning mindfulness is that you don’t have to be different than who you are. Embracing your true self is encouraged.
It’s a roadmap for unconditional acceptance. When we train our minds to observe what’s happening within and around us, we can see the complexity of things. These practices help us see through the web of societal, familial, or internal messaging.
We can get out of our heads, away from black-and-white thinking, into seeing nuance and areas of gray. With greater clarity of everything happening inside, it becomes easier to connect with what’s most important to us and to feel connected to other people and our innate drive to be helpful.
Mindfulness will help you live life to the fullest moment-by-moment. With focused awareness, discovering fluctuations of sensations and patterns of feelings can lead to a greater appreciation of how everything is always changing. This includes how we feel. We can gain an appreciation for the beauty around us even when going through terrible times. We experience holding space for pain and difficulty along with gratitude and awe. We don’t have to cut ourselves off from struggles.
Benefits of mind training
Break habits of reliving a past that can never be changed or living in anticipation of a future that may or may not ever happen
Notice unpleasant feelings like dread, worry, or anger especially helpful when nothing big is happening to match the intensity, gives you the ability to detach from a story about the feeling.
Paying attention on purpose clears the way for experiencing pleasant sensations, awe, and gratitude.
After an embarrassing moment, making a mistake, or having a misunderstanding with someone and taking responsibility - when there’s nothing more you can do, nothing more to learn - It’s time to move on, and that’s what happens. You disentangle more quickly with this practice.
First, there’s awareness and recognition, then, focus and concentration deepens, and eventually, a dropping down with the struggle, the fear, pain, grief, and remorse.
Mindfulness is a system for hacking a jumpy mind. The instructions are simple, but it can take some time for deeper understanding to sink in. The rewards of regular practice include greater patience, peace, and well-being.
A few days ago, my 7 am exercise class was all cardio. Far from my preference, the other women’s groans offered me comfort and validation. It’s nobody’s favorite.
We didn’t know what was in store for us, but moving quickly was practically guaranteed. Surprisingly, halfway through, I found myself unbothered by all the burpees and even tried beating my number of reps each round.
Toward the end of the final set, I noticed a slight irritation with what felt like a series of disjointed steps. Keeping up with the instructor would mean sacrificing form for speed. The twinge of annoyance felt like a throwback to an earlier me who would have wanted to stop when a situation wasn’t going the way I liked.
It’s one of those silly things I hardly have to deal with nowadays. Whereas years ago, having several silly things in a day might have contributed to me experiencing a downward spiral.
Back then, I had many preconceptions about how things were supposed to be, or what I should feel like after xyz experience. When things didn’t go my way, I was easily frustrated.
These days, I notice my preferences without getting snagged by my feelings as often, and when I do get caught, they don’t linger for as long. Finishing the workout with peace of mind is more important than pontificating about the instructor’s competence. I know what my body needs better than anyone else, so whether it means slowing down or moving faster, mindfulness gives me the clarity of mind not to get stuck and disgruntled about how I believe things should be.
The best part of letting go of minor irritations is that my mind no longer spends time in that space. It’s similar to when we pay less attention to a tantrum. There are fewer of them. We can do this for our inner dialogues as well. Less judgment breads less judgment. Letting go of judging ourselves; we’ll judge others less and vice versa. It’s incredibly freeing.
After practicing quiet reflection, focusing on values, and labeling my experiences, I see that my overall baseline of feeling good - feeling at ease is much wider and deeper - it’s more a part of my everyday life.
I still have pity parties, which I believe are helpful in short doses, crying spells, and rage at injustice. They are much shorter now, which helps me get back to being fully engaged with my life and deciding on the actions I will take due to the intense emotions I have about something.
A regular mindfulness practice can change the landscape of your mind so that you feel in charge of yourself, steady, and able to meet the day's challenges. Savoring simple pleasures that happen throughout the day not only primes your mind to look out for more of what feels good it turns each day into feeling well spent. How we spend our days is how we spend our lives; mindfulness connects us to our inner wisdom and courage, contributing to greater well-being and meaning.
