Stop Doing, Start Being
Practicing mindfulness is at once simple and difficult because it requires you to accept the idea that it’s OK to do nothing in a world where many judge (and are judged) based on how much gets done.
Doing nothing, however, is an important prerequisite to mindfulness. It allows you to clear your mind and permit yourself to focus on just being. In fact, every person should commit to spending time “just being” every day. Doing so allows participants to free up time and space to focus on the present, which helps to nurture inner calm and self-acceptance.
By slowing down, you open space to appreciate the world you’re in — instead of thinking about the past or worrying about the future. You gain the ability to grasp the power of the present, and you can live in the moment more connected to the world around you.
While you learn to take time out in your day for mindfulness, it’s also important to maintain calm throughout the day. By doing this, you’ll eventually find that you’re using mindfulness at just about any time you might need it while dealing with real-work stressors.
The Goal Isn’t Relaxation: It’s to Pay Attention
Some people avoid meditation because they’re convinced they won’t do it the “right” way or be able to relax as much as they’re “supposed to.” Not only is this kind of thinking stressful, but this reaction reflects a misunderstanding about the purpose of meditation. The goal of meditation isn’t to relax but rather about learning to pay attention.
Especially for anyone new to the practice, your mind may resist when you try to focus on the present and it might do so by finding new and distracting thoughts to pursue. These thoughts will come — even when you become more experienced at meditation. What matters is that you don’t allow yourself to follow your wandering thoughts but rather to simply acknowledge them and then gently bring the focus back to your breathing. Thinking during meditation does not make that meditation session a failure. The key to heightening mindfulness isn’t pushing all other thoughts out of your mind, but to be fully aware of, without being attached to, their existence.
The more you practice meditation, the more easily you will learn to acknowledge your thoughts while redirecting your attention back to the present moment and allowing yourself to relish the experience. With time, meditation becomes a valuable tool, helping you achieve stability and clarity of the mind, even in the most trying situations.
The Mind-Body Connection
Mindfulness and meditation are most often touted for the benefits they offer for our mind and spirit but they also provide immense benefits for the body. Studies consistently show that changing your mind-set to be more positive or negative can have positive or negative effects on your body too, for example, it has been shown to ease chronic pain, reduce high blood pressure, and lower levels of cholesterol and cortisol (the body’s stress hormone).
Some studies even suggest that your mental state can impact cancer progression. In one such study, women with breast cancer who maintained a highly optimistic attitude and a belief in their ability to survive had much higher survival rates than those whose attitude was described as stoic acceptance or who felt overwhelmed, hopeless or defeated.
What do many of these studies have in common? A finding that emotional suppression is unhealthy and can lead to physical harm — and, conversely, that mindfulness and meditation are powerful techniques that can improve health outcomes and lives.
Read more from this amazing book called “Full Catastrophe Living” by Jon Kabat-Zinn along with hundreds of others containing further insights to accelerate your learning, fight stress, insomnia, personal development, living happier and much more at ATHENA
