MINDFULNESS

MINDFULNESS

Your conscious mind is your contact with reality and is characterized by awareness. One of its jobs is to establish the reality of the self. How do you know you exist? You are aware of yourself, your body and your surroundings. 

We live in a society where the pace of life is fast and furious. As a result of this, we often find ourselves operating in autopilot to get through our daily routine. When this happens self- awareness is usurped by activities. All too often our mind is consumed by what we must do and ought to do. Sometimes life overloads us, and we become stressed and anxious, sometimes we find ourselves ruminating about the past and worrying about the future. 

Put simply we forget to be in the present. Due to this lack of awareness we often develop poor lifestyle habits such as overeating and drinking as we become stressed by life’s dramas. The result is that our energy tanks become depleted, and we experience low vitality in mind, body and spirit. 

If you want to learn how to become more aware of building, maintaining and distributing energy in your life, you may be interested to know about a powerful mind-body movement called mindfulness. Introduced to the world by Jon Kabat- Zinn at the University of Massachusetts, mindfulness practise is a based on the combining ancient meditation and yoga practices from the east with awareness exercises. The purpose of these practises is to realise what is occurring in the present moment and be more aware on a daily basis. 

Mindfulness practice is an excellent awareness tool that helps us manage our health and our vitality levels. The principles of Mindfulness practice are:  

  • Non-Judgement: Be non-judgemental in your attitude. 
  • Patience: Allow life events to unfold in their own time. 
  • Beginner’s mind: Have an attitude that you are seeing things for the first time. 
  • Trust: Learn how to trust yourself and significant others. 
  • Non-striving: Be content with the present moment, whatever that may be. 
  • Acceptance: Accept oneself and others. 
  • Letting go: When we accept things as they are, we can let go.