Living in the present
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Mindfulness is a powerful term often thrown around loosely when someone mentions they are stressed or experiencing a tough time, but what does it actually mean? Lauren Gibson provides the answer
A
ccording to the dictionary definition, mindfulness is the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. I describe mindfulness
as the mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings and thoughts and bodily sensations. This is often used as a therapeutic technique. And because of this definition, a lot of people think mindfulness means being perfect, being Zen and being balanced. No – mindfulness means you need to be present. In whatever situation is presented to you. And
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this can be difficult, given our busy lifestyles.
Key aspects There are key aspects to mindfulness that I hope to unpack in this article. They are: Awareness, Curiosity, Gentleness, Pausing, Discipline, Neuroplasticity, Perception and Acceptance. Mindfulness is a practice. It increases immunity, sleep and happiness and lowers stress and cortisol levels, as well as symptoms associated with disease, to make you a healthier and happier version of yourself. We are in one of the most connected and changing worlds we have ever been in yet we are more chaotic. Every day we are served so much content – emails, WhatsApp
messages and social networking notifications and even more so now with the coronavirus pandemic. So the need to pause and be mindful is really needed. It starts with acknowledging when you may be slipping into default or sleep mode. How ‘awake’ are you? How aware are you?
Learn, unlearn and re-learn Mindfulness allows us to learn, unlearn and relearn and this allows for growth and transformation. We have all learnt behaviours from our upbringing and the past. And, we often rely on this to assist us to make judgement calls, but this can be to our detriment. Therefore, we need to unlearn old habits and the way of doing things that are no
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