Mindfulness is a way to become more aware of the present moment, reduce stress, become calm and relaxed, and increase focus and concentration.
Mindfulness exercises and meditation practice are not separate practices. Both use similar methods. They reduce stress, help you live in the present moment, and improve your focus and attention span.
These practices also reduce strain and tension and expand consciousness.
Mindful practices help you develop your concentration skills and teach you to disregard distractions. They also help you become fully present. This means that you are fully focused on the present, on the here and now.
How to Define Mindfulness?
Wikipedia this word as follows:
“Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one’s attention in the present moment without judgment. A skill one develops through meditation or other training.
“Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and based on Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan meditation techniques.”
Merriam Webster Dictionary says:
“The practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.”
Cambridge Dictionary defines it as follows:
“The practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings in the present moment, thought to create a feeling of calm.”
According to the American Psychological Association (APA.org, 2012), this term means:
“A moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait. While it might be promoted by certain practices or activities, such as meditation, it is not equivalent to or synonymous with them.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn about Mindfulness
Jon Kabat-Zinn, American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, defines mindfulness in the following words:
“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”
Jon Kabat-Jon also said:
“We all take ourselves too seriously because we believe that there’s someone to take seriously. That ‘me’. We become the star of our own movie.
“The story of ‘me’, starring, of course, me! And everyone else becomes a bit player in our movie. And then we forget that it’s a fabrication.
“It’s a construction. And that it’s not a movie and that there’s no ‘you’ that you can actually find if you were to peel back.”
The Benefits of Mindfulness
What are the benefits of mindfulness, and what is the effect of mindfulness?
This practices, like meditation, increases focus, helps you stop overthinking widens the awareness, and calms the body. It is actually a stress reduction program.
Other important benefits are experiencing less stress, creating an inner space of calmness and peace, and becoming a more patient and tolerant.
Experience shows that its practice has a favorable effect on the physical health and the mental health.
You can cultivate mindfulness when sitting alone on your chair and paying attention to your bodily sensations, and you can also practice it while walking, traveling, and even while working.
All you have to do is focus on the present moment, on what you are doing, or on the sensations in your body.
Simple Exercise to Cultivate Mindfulness
How to focus on the present moment? Here is a simple exercise to get started to be more mindful and focus on the present. This exercise will relax your body and mind, make you more aawre of your body, and give you a taste of what being mindful means.
The Preparations:
1. Find a quiet place: The first step is to find a quiet place where you can sit down quietly. You can sit on a chair or on the floor, whatever you find more convenient.
2. Relaxing the body: Try to relax your body as much as you can. Focus for e few second on each part of the body and relax it, from head to toes.
3. Deep breathing: Now, take a few deep slow breaths to relax your body and mind.
The Exercise:
4. Scanning your body: Close your eyes, and direct your attention to your body. Start making body scans with your awareness. What does this mean? Starting from your head, move your attention slowly from one part of your body to the other while focusing on each part for a moment or two.
Strive to be aware of each body part, wherever you focus your attention. Feel if it is tense or relaxed, and pay attention to the sensations you feel.
Don’t try to analyze the sensations, just be aware of them in a neutral manner, making a mental note of them.
5. Move your attention slowly: While scanning your body, move your attention slowly from your head to your face, forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, neck, chest, abdomen, and so on, until you reach the toes of your feet.
6. When the mind wanders being it back: Whenever your mind wanders, just calmly bring it back to the exercise.
You can start with a session of about a 5 minutes, and gradually, as you gain experience, lengthen the time to 15 minutes, and even more.
Being mindful is much more than this, but this exercise is a good start.
Learn how to calm your mind and stop its nonstop chatter.
You Can Become More Mindful and Focus on the Present
Practicing mindfulness training is not difficult. Actually, you can do it wherever you are. All you need is to be present here with your full attention. In simple words, focus on what you are doing.
The key is not to do one thing while thinking of something else. Your attention should be on what you are doing, thinking, or experiencing.
The difficult part is to train the mind to be mindful. As the mind wanders away, you need to bring it back. You need to remember to be mindful, at least part of the time. This is a challenge if your attention span is short and you cannot focus your mind.
However, this is not a problem. All you need is to persevere and keep training your mind. If you are earnest enough, you can change your behavior and mental habits. focusing on the present can become a habit.
Mindfulness Quotes
Here are some mindfulness quotes to put you into the mood of this practice and to discover what some experts say about it.
“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.”
“Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive.”
“Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.”
“The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is.”
“Use every distraction as an object of meditation and they cease to be distractions.”
“The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.”
“Paradise is not a place; it’s a state of consciousness.”
“Altogether, the idea of meditation is not to create states of ecstasy or absorption, but to experience being.”
Read more Quotes on mindfulness.
About the Author
Remez Sasson is the founder of SuccessConsciousness.com, a leading resource for personal growth and self-transformation. With decades of experience in self-improvement and meditation, Remez has empowered countless individuals worldwide to unlock their potential.
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