Mindfulness

 It can be easy to rush through life without stopping to notice much of what is happening around you. Paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can improve your mental wellbeing. Some people call this awareness 'mindfulness', and you can take steps to develop it in your own life. Good mental wellbeing means feeling good about life and yourself and being able to get on with life in the way you want. Mindfulness is a great skill to have to help contribute to your calm mindset.

 What Is Mindfulness?

You may think about wellbeing in terms of what you have: your income, home or car, or your job. But evidence shows that what we do and the way we think have the biggest impact on wellbeing. Becoming more aware of the present moment means noticing the sights, smells, sounds and tastes that you experience, as well as the thoughts and feelings that occur from one moment to the next. Mindfulness can also be called "present-centredness". It helps us enjoy the world more and understand ourselves better.

 Mark Williams, professor of clinical psychology at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and consultant to the NHS, says that mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment.

 Re-Awaken

Professor Williams says that mindfulness can be an antidote to the "tunnel vision" that can develop in our daily lives, especially when we are busy, stressed or tired. "It's easy to stop noticing the world around us. It's also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living 'in our heads' – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour," he says. "An important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment. That might be something as simple as the feel of a bannister as we walk upstairs.

Another important part of mindfulness is an awareness of our thoughts and feelings as they happen moment to moment. "Awareness of this kind doesn't start by trying to change or fix anything. It's about allowing ourselves to see the present moment clearly. When we do that, it can positively change the way we see ourselves and our lives."

Discover Your Path To Mindfulness

Becoming more aware of the present moment can help us enjoy the world around us more and understand ourselves better. "When we become more aware of the present moment, we begin to experience afresh many things in the world around us that we have been taking for granted," says Professor Williams. "Mindfulness also allows us to become more aware of the stream of thoughts and feelings that we experience and to see how we can become entangled in that stream in ways that are not helpful. "This lets us stand back from our thoughts and start to see their patterns. Gradually, we can train ourselves to notice when our thoughts are taking over and realise that thoughts are simply 'mental events' that do not have to control us.”

 One of the best ways to discover mindfulness is through guided relaxation and meditation.

To discover more about how to find your path to mindfulness, get in touch today and enrol on one of our webinars or coaching programmes. 

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