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Are you a multi-tasker? Are you fully involved while making your breakfast, or is your mind preoccupied with planning for the rest of the day or worrying about your career? The continuous chattering of your mind and automated management of more than one job is the way of life. But then, what is the point of focusing on one thing? What is mindfulness, and why is it important to be mindful?
Mindfulness means placing yourself completely in the moment, with full awareness, and in a non-judgmental space. If you have ever lost track of time while watching a movie or talking to a loved one, you have experienced mindfulness. Mindfulness is your undivided, unconditional attention to the present moment, not worrying about the future or thinking of the past.
Ever wondered how mindful you are? Try answering some of these questions and find out on your own
- You tend to overeat or are a stress eater.
- You have never really noticed those buildings, trees, and shops on your way to work. Or you are usually in a hurry to reach the office and thus miss everything on the way.
- You are either unaware of the hobbies or activities that make you happy, or you simply don’t enjoy them anymore.
- You often have to ask the other person to repeat what they said.
- You ponder over things you could have done differently in a failed relationship or the opportunities you have missed in the past.
- Life’s routine bores you.
The more these statements resonate with you, the more the chances that you would benefit from mindfulness.
Why you should care to be mindful
But what exactly happens when you start focusing on the Now? Here are some benefits of being mindful.
Reduce anxiety and depression
When you train your mind to remain aware, you move away from the anxiety of numerous random, negative thoughts. Mindfulness helps you tune down those unwanted thoughts and focus on the present, thus reducing stress and anxiety. According to a study, mindfulness enables you to deal with daily stressors effectively and develop self-efficacy to manage it. Not just that, mindfulness also keeps us away from a relapse into depression, for those who have survived it in the past.
Improve productivity at work
Do you find yourself scrolling over social media at work? Or you find it challenging to concentrate in those long meetings? Or your energies drain as the day progresses? Mindfulness is your solution to all those challenges. In fact, a study conducted by Headspace highlights that after going through three weeks of mindfulness meditation, the participants increased their focus by 14%. Not just that, another study says that mindfulness can improve short-term memory and attention span. What’s more? You can even be more creative with mindfulness. A report suggests that keen observation, which forms the basis of mindfulness, is bound to increase individual and group creativity.
Let go of destructive, automated habits
With mindfulness, you can say goodbye to your sugar cravings in stressful or emotionally challenging situations. It helps you make more conscious choices, thus transforming habits that no longer serve you. Whether it is smoking, overeating, or consuming way too much alcohol, mindfulness practice can help you decode these habits, identify triggers, and get over them.
Embracing response over reaction
Numerous research studies suggest that meditators have the advantage of remaining mindful and calm in case of conflict or difficult conversations. Mindfulness also helps you enhance cognitive flexibility, helping you respond to varied situations or complete tasks effortlessly.
Better relationships
When you are mindful, you avoid making negative presumptions about people, the work culture, your role, and so on. You would stop looking at people and continuously judging them for their clothes, words, or attitude. Undoubtedly, when you judge less, you improve your relationships. As per a study, participants who practiced mindfulness reported an increase in partner acceptance and more fulfilling relationships.
Improve sleep
Long to-do lists and stressful thoughts can disturb your sleep patterns. If you have been facing challenges with deep, relaxing sleep, mindfulness may reverse the pattern for you. According to a study conducted with people who face moderate sleep disturbances, the participants who practiced mindfulness showed significant improvement in insomnia and depression, compared to those who were subjected to regular sleep training.
What is Mindfulness – 9 Principles of Practicing It
All mindfulness practices, whether focusing on breath or mindful action and observation, are based on nine evident pillars. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the godfather of mindfulness, first introduced these nine principles. He also developed an 8-week-long Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program.
1. Non-judging
Thanks to our super-active brain, we are constantly making judgments. We have opinions of people we meet, and the incidents that happen and didn’t happen during the day. Our children talking out loud in Subway can irritate us, and a silent kid in a social gathering may also seem strange. You may judge a beggar and a billionaire. But what is the problem with judging? Judging prevents you from seeing or experiencing things as they are. A non-selection of an interview process is just that- denial of a job opportunity. But then, more often than not, you may question your capabilities, or even question the fairness of the selection process.
Note that being non-judgmental doesn’t involve forcing yourself to stop making judgments, but observing them without attachment or without dwelling on them. Acknowledge them as they arise and remind yourself these aren’t coming from your true self, and the thoughts or opinions are temporary and subject to changes.
2. Patience
Everything in life comes and happens at a certain pace and at a certain time, including your personal, professional, and spiritual growth. Are you always in a hurry to go to the office, or get annoyed when your colleague is too slow in responding to your query? When you are impatient, you are not able to focus your attention or energy on the most inevitable and profound moment – now. Things will take their own time, nonetheless. What you can choose to do in that time is enjoy every moment and patiently wait for the next one to unfold.
Practicing patience also helps you realize that the universe has its own time frames for working. You cannot hurry everything to happen right now because you aren’t equipped for it. A flower will take its own time to blossom, and seasons will take their own time to unfold. Your transformation from unknowing to knowing or misery to happiness will happen with patience, and more importantly, with the mindfulness of profound lessons you may otherwise be missing.
3. Beginner’s Mind
What is mindfulness but looking at every moment with a fresh pair of lens? A beginner’s mind is looking at every moment as if you are living it for the first time, with no baggage of the past. You approach your relationships with a fresh perspective and no pre-conceived expectations of what happens next. Like meeting your partner with the love and enthusiasm of the first meet, and your child with no history of their past mistakes.
With a beginner’s mind, you operate from abundant belief and an open heart, empowering every moment with all possibilities. . Adopting this principle of mindfulness can help you relate better to other people, and become more open to experiences without getting stressed or anxious in the process. All this would never be possible if you carry the memory of the past into the present. So let go and begin afresh, each moment.
4. Trust
“If you can’t entirely trust what you think, what about trusting awareness? What about trusting your heart? What about trusting your motivation to at least do no harm? What about trusting your experience until it’s proven to be inaccurate – and then trusting that discovery?”- Jon Kabat-Zinn
Trust is an attitudinal foundation of mindfulness. The more you learn to trust, the more you begin to enjoy life with complete faith in its unfolding. With a little more trust in your partner, your relationships become better, and more trust in yourself helps you get over challenging situations with ease. You need not be fixated on what you should trust, beginning by trusting your natural instincts- that you will continue to see, touch, hear, taste, and smell is a good start. Slowly expand this list by trusting your health, your intuition, your loved ones, and so on.
5. Non-Striving
Some things are better left at unfolding at their own pace without our active interference. Non-striving would discourage you from setting expectations from a situation. So, when you are moving in with your partner, avoid having that long checklist of how your life will be, or how your partner should behave. When you let go of the ‘definition’ of perfect life, you embrace the beauty of this moment without getting lost in ‘what should be.’
Try taking a break from your long to-do list and practice the art of doing nothing. Note that non-striving isn’t inaction but complete acceptance of what is there right now. The pause and non-expectation of what happens won’t put you in inaction, on the contrary, it is known to improve your productivity.
Non-striving beautifully fits in the meditation practice. When you try hard to remove all the chattering of your mind, or ignore the disturbing sound of dog barking, your focus goes to the exact same thing. Make a slight change now. Sit in meditation with absolutely no agenda, no intention of stopping the bombardment of the thoughts, and you would be able to let them come and go at their pace.
6. Letting go
You have negative thoughts about a presentation that may go wrong, and while you are trying all possible ways to feel more positive and get over that annoying thought, it comes back again. Letting go is acknowledging that you have a certain emotion, experiencing it, and then detaching from it and letting it go.
One of the key principles of mindfulness is recognizing everything you are not ready to recognize- your pain, trauma, and your shadow. Parallelly, you also choose not to hold on to your emotions since your identity is not linked to your feelings. Release the grip of holding on to the good or bad phases of your life, and know that these are temporary.
7. Acceptance
Accepting what is happening at this moment helps you become fully prepared for the next one. Interestingly, contrary to common belief, when you completely accept your physical pain or negative emotions like anger or sadness, you build an internal stress or pain response that contradicts those negative emotions. In short, when you accept your negative emotions completely, you find a way to deal with them rather than running away. Look at acceptance as a way to learn from each experience. According to research, when people accept pain and indulge in their favorite activity, they are no longer influenced by depression, negative thoughts, or even the idea of pain.
Note that non-striving, letting go, and acceptance are deeply correlated with one another. With the practice of one, you are most likely placed on mastering others as well.
8. Gratitude
Imagine if you can learn the art of feeling grateful in every moment. Every moment brings with it some goodness and positivity to bask in. Getting late to work gives you some extra time to listen to your favorite song, a breakup helps you move on to a possibly better relationship, and falling sick just helps you realize the good, healthy days you never appreciated enough. Gratitude is a mindful reminder of your accomplishments so far, and the awareness that no matter how bad you think it is right now, there is always something to smile upon.
9. Generosity
Mindfulness is being generous with your presence in this moment. Be generous in accepting yourself as you are, and others without judgment. This principle of mindfulness puts the focus on the interconnectedness of all beings. Ultimately, we influence each other more than you can imagine. So, express love to your loved ones and share how much you value them. Be generous in your genuine appreciation of someone and yourself.
As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “Give more than you think you can, trusting you are richer than you think.”
Conclusion
What is Mindfulness? It is a way of life. It is diving into the experience and not missing a moment of it. Mindfulness isn’t just dedicating certain times of your day in silent observation or breath work, but it is immersing yourself in everything you do and think. And while doing that, remember to accept yourself as you are, no matter where you are on that journey.
