Revealing How The Practice Of Mindfulness Will Make You Happier

Being mindful in certain situations would’ve saved you from unwanted scenarios. Practice it.

Today you probably heard the word “mindfulness”, especially if you’re into “self-development”. “Be mindful”, “Practise mindfulness”, “Meditation is a great way to reach mindfulness”. But what does it actually mean and how should you do it properly?

Before we do our research, let me just put it out there: mindfulness is a great tool for self-development. Not only does it positively affect your relationships with others, but most importantly your relationship with yourself.

So, what is it?

Mayo Clinic puts it this way “Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.”

Wikipedia puts it a little bit differently.“Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through meditation, of sustaining meta-attentive awareness towards the contents of one's mind in the present moment.”

My favourite one, would be Psychology Today’s way of describing it: “Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention to the present. This state is described as observing one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.”

To wrap it up, mindfulness is a state in which we actively are aware of our thoughts and feelings, right in this moment.

Benefits

So, mindfulness is the equivalent to emotional intelligence except it is for thoughts rather than feelings and empathy for others.

In Buddhism, it is the key to mind clarity, peace and overcoming suffering, which leads to overall happiness.

It’s not about getting rid of our sufferings, but rather about observing them without judgement.

Surely, reaching it is hard, but if it puts us at ease, helps to reach lifetime happiness, why not try to practice it?

The common sufferings that mindfulness eases are: worries about the future or regrets over the past, worries about self-esteem, and forming deep connections with others.

Let’s hop into how to practice it.

How to

Our sources are not wrong. One of the best practices is meditation, whether it’s through breathing, being aware of feelings, awareness of one’s thoughts or focusing on our senses.

1. Focus on Your Breathing:

• Find a comfortable place, sit down, close your eyes, and bring attention to your breath.

• Deep breath in, deep breath out.

• Notice the sensation of the air entering and leaving your body. Filling up your lungs and then leaving through your nose.

• If your mind starts to wander, bring your focus back to your breath without judgment.

2. Feeling awareness

• Best position is to lie down on your back, hands to your sides with your palms facing the ceiling. Pay attention to different parts of your body, starting from your toes and moving up.

• Notice any sensations, tension, or discomfort.

• This helps ground you in the present moment and develop awareness of physical sensations.

3. Thought awareness

• Become aware of what you are thinking. Thoughts arise automatically, so when your mind has wandered into thought, try to catch yourself in what moment you began thinking.

• Label your thoughts. If you catch yourself thinking about tomorrow’s public presentation, label it as “worry”.

• Do not label them as bad or good. They are what they are, we will not get rid of them, but focusing on the positive will help us change them. This doesn’t mean we won’t be having negative thoughts popping up.

4. Focusing on your senses

• Sit down, breathe for a few minutes and then shift your focus to your sense of sight. Observe the view, objects, their shape. Observe a few and then move on.

• Now, turn to touch. Your fingers may be touching, or your legs may be crossed. Feel the socks on your feet or the shirt on your upper body. We don’t normally focus on these things, do we?

• Sound. What do you hear? Where is it coming from or who is making it? How does it make you feel? Again, name a few and then move on, don’t sit there naming all the sounds.

• Lastly, your sense of taste. Notice at least one thing. Maybe as a snack you ate a banana or had coffee with breakfast. Notice the taste that’s still there, lingering on your tongue.

Bits and pieces

Mindfulness is the key to a lot of things. By practising you’ll improve your stress management, emotion regulation, focus and productivity, you’ll be more mindful in your conversations, which leads to better relationships. Catching on to body language or emotional cues, things you wouldn’t have noticed before.

Consistency is key, so try to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine, even if it's just for a few minutes each day.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” - Thich Nhat Hanh - “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”