What Does It Mean To Be Mindful By Sumayyah Adenle

 

The ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not unduly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us, is known as mindfulness.

Every human being possesses mindfulness; you only need to learn how to access it.

However, mindfulness is always there to bring us back to where we are, what we're doing, and how we're feeling, no matter how far we've strayed. It's recommended to give mindfulness a go for a while if you want to learn more about it. Because it's difficult to put into words, books, online, audio, and video will all have subtle variances in the meaning.

While mindfulness is intrinsic, it may be developed using tried-and-true methods. Some instances are as follows:

• Sitting, walking, standing, and moving meditation (lying down is also an option, but it typically leads to sleep);
• Incorporating short pauses into daily life;
• Integrating meditation with other activities such as yoga or sports.

Why Practice It?

Mindfulness practice, even for a few weeks, has been demonstrated in studies to offer a variety of physical, psychological, and social advantages. Here are a few of these advantages, which apply to a variety of situations.

• Mindfulness is good for our bodies: According to a landmark study, practicing mindfulness meditation enhances our immune system's ability to fight illness after just eight weeks of training. Mindfulness practice can also help you sleep better.
• Mindfulness is good for our minds: Mindfulness has been shown in several studies to promote happy emotions while decreasing negative emotions and stress. Indeed, at least one study suggests it may be as effective as antidepressants in preventing relapse and combating depression.
• Mindfulness changes our brains and help us focus: It has been discovered that it improves gray matter density in brain regions associated with learning, memory, emotion control, and empathy. Mindfulness, according to research, helps us filter out distractions and enhances our memory, attention, and decision-making skills.
• Mindfulness fosters compassion and altruism: According to research, mindfulness training improves activity in brain networks involved in understanding others' pain and regulating emotions, making us more likely to help someone in need. Evidence suggests that it may also improve self-compassion.

• Mindfulness enhances relationships: According to research, mindfulness training improves partnership satisfaction, making each partner feel more positive and peaceful, and makes them feel more accepting of and closer to one another. Couples who are mindful may also be able to heal from conflict more rapidly.
• Mindfulness fights obesity: Mindful eating supports healthy eating habits, aids weight loss, and allows people to savor the food they do consume. Women who practice mindful eating while pregnant acquire less weight and have healthier infants.
• Mindfulness helps health care professionals: cope with stress, connect with their patients, and improve their general quality of life. It also helps mental health professionals by reducing negative emotions and anxiety, and increasing their positive emotions and feelings of self-compassion.
• Mindfulness is good for parents and parents-to-be: Pregnant parents' anxiety, stress, and sadness may be reduced, and the risk of premature birth and developmental difficulties may be reduced, according to studies. Parents who practice mindful parenting report less stress, more positive parenting practices, and better interactions with their children; their children, in turn, are less depressed and anxious, and have better social skills. Family mindfulness training may result in less stressed parents who pay more attention to their children.
• Mindfulness may be beneficial to teens: Mindfulness practice can help kids reduce stress and sadness while also increasing self-compassion and happiness. It may also minimize the influence of peer pressure after kids arrive at college.
• Mindfulness helps schools: There is scientific evidence that teaching mindfulness in the classroom reduces kids' behavior problems, hostility, and sadness, as well as their happiness, self-regulation, and attention span. Mindfulness-trained teachers have lower blood pressure, fewer negative emotions and depression symptoms, less distress and urgency, more compassion and empathy, and more effective teaching.

8 Facts About Mindfulness

1. Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic: We're used to it because it's what we've always done and how we've always been. It comes in a variety of forms and is known by a variety of names.
2. Mindfulness is not a special added thing we do: We already have the ability to be present, and it does not necessitate a change in our personalities. However, we can cultivate these innate qualities through simple practices that have been scientifically proven to benefit ourselves, our loved ones, friends and neighbors, coworkers, and the institutions and organizations in which we participate.
3. You don’t need to change: Solutions that require us to change who we are or become someone we are not have repeatedly failed us. Mindfulness acknowledges and cultivates the best aspects of who we are as people.
4. Mindfulness has the potential to become a transformative social phenomenon.
5. Anyone can do it: The practice of mindfulness cultivates universal human qualities without requiring people to modify their ideas. Everyone may profit from it, and it is simple to learn.
6. It’s a way of living:  Mindfulness isn't just a technique; it's a way of life. It instills mindfulness and compassion in all we do, as well as reducing unnecessary stress. Even a small amount makes a difference in our lives.
7. It’s evidence-based: We don't have to believe in mindfulness. Its favourable effects on our health, happiness, work, and relationships have been shown by science and experience.
8. It sparks innovation: Mindfulness can help us find effective, resilient, low-cost solutions to apparently intractable challenges as our world becomes more complex and uncertain.

Share with me what you have learnt about mindfulness in the comment section.

More bout been mindful will be discussed in subsequent posts, God willing.

Till I come your way again stay mindfully healthy.