mind·ful·ness:
- the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
- a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
*Definitions from Oxford Languages
If you’ve been hearing lots of people talking about mindfulness or encouraging you to be mindful of certain things, you might start to wonder what this concept actually is. Unfortunately, not many people take the time to discover more about mindfulness and how it can help them to become healthier and happier people. By concentrating on this, you can improve many aspects of your life, including your home life, relationships, and health and fitness.
What is mindfulness?
When you become more aware of your body, your surroundings, and your emotions, this is known as becoming more mindful. Rather than just rushing through everything and not paying attention to what your body and mind are telling you, it’s the idea that you should stop and take the time to feel and understand more of the things you’re experiencing.
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What can you do to become more mindful?
When you smell a new scent, think about whether you like it or not. If you like it, think about why you like it. Does it make you feel happy? Does it remind you of something in particular? Maybe you associate the scent with something and it brings back some happy memories. Perhaps it brings back some bad memories, but being mindful isn’t always about feeling good things. It’s about understanding what you’re feeling.
To become more mindful, think about your different senses and how you can pay more attention to the things you feel. If you become upset, what made you upset and what you could do to avoid it in the future. If a sound makes you feel a certain way, you can use this to either encourage the sound and hear more of it. Another option is to try to avoid it so that it doesn’t make you feel negative emotions.
What can improve if you include mindfulness in your daily routine?
Not only will you start to become more attentive and notice more things in your life, but you will be able to understand yourself better as a person. Understanding oneself is very important in order to live a happy and healthy life. If you listen to your body when it tells you it is too tired to work out, you won’t rush the risk of injuries. If you push your body when you know it can take more, you will see the benefits and rewards.
Being mindful can also help your mental health since you will become aware of what makes you feel good and bad and the reasons why.
