With Mindfulness
Mindfulness is about becoming more aware of ways in which we can become better as supposed to ways in which we will simply just feel better. While mindfulness can help us to experience the positive things in life more fully, this is only a small part of what mindfulness is about.
Mindfulness isn’t just about that feel good factor, it allows us to welcome and fully experience the reality of being human, the good moments and the more challenging ones — and as a result learning to be less reactive so that we can make wiser choices each day.
A few clicks to happiness…
We have all to varying degrees become mindlessly hooked to the quick fix.
Consume, consume, consume!
Products are being created and disposed of at alarming rates, quantity over quality. The demand for more is so high because people are addicted to the ‘ quick fix’, thus avoiding the root cause. It’s not just products and goods, that keep us coming back for more. Addiction is rife within our society, presenting it’s self through many outlets. It’s a cycle of abuse, that enslaves us.
With full schedules and to-do lists that carry us from hour to hour, many of us think we don’t have enough time to stop and reflect on our motivations.
The truth is we don’t need to set time aside for mindfulness, our practice becomes part of every moment, helping us to stay true to ourselves.
If we want to be better, not just feel better we must re direct our focus inwards, think about quality and not quantity.
See more clearly, choose more clearly
When we’re able to experience and see a situation, without falling victim to our reaction’s - the window of choice becomes available to us. We essentially remove the blinkers from our eyes, enabling us to view the whole picture.
Questioning our choices…
Can this situation be turned around?
Is there a family member or friend to ask for support?
Is there a request we can make here?
Can there be a wise choice made that maintains our integrity, aligns with our core beliefs and values, even if its a tricky decision to make?
When we practice mindfulness, our minds are better equipt at staying true to ourselves and not our emotions, when we experience one of life’s many challenging situations.
We are less driven by desires that give us a quick fix. We’re able to see clearly and by fully engaging in the human experience, we find a deeper sense of motivation and choice which is more aligned with our values.
Inner world = Outer world
Our thoughts create our reality. Imagine for a moment that every thought you think and word you speak is a powerful spell. Would you then become mindful of your thoughts?
Our Internal world manifests itself in our outside world. Like a mirror everything we perceive in the physical world had its origins in the invisible, inner world of our thoughts and beliefs.
We're all 'meaning-making machines' that are always looking to attach meaning to the life situations and events we face. To stay present and positive we must pay attention to the meanings we are assigning.
The power lies in the revelation that we have a choice. We can choose the story about every situation that arises in our lives. The stories and meanings that we assign will eventually become our truth.
Journaling our thoughts and feelings can help us effectively process and make sense of them.
Identify core values and beliefs & reflect if they align within our present day lives.
Hurt people, hurt people
If we don’t process our own hurts, we end up hurting those around us. When we don’t forgive ourselves the hurt shows on a physical, emotional, relational and spiritual level.
Practice radical self compassion; forgiveness to ourselves we are perfectly imperfect and that is what makes us human.
With compassion we can transform our lives, freed from emotional ruts this opens up new windows of opportunity within our lives.
Becoming more mindful of our experience
With practice we can get better at recognizing fleeting and subtle feelings. Allowing our emotions to arise and acknowledge them, they are only guests passing through. This helpful skill will help us develop empathy, intuition and creativity.
Compassion
Is the capacity to relate to ourselves and others in a non-judgemental and caring way. Compassion allows us to experience pain and simply allow it to be. it enables us to value pain as a normal part of being human, as supposed to an indication of failure. It allows us to feel our pain without being overwhelmed by it.
Focus & emotional consequences
We can feel free, present and open, in this moment - if we consciously choose to let go of worries.
In our busy lives we spend so much time focusing on things that don’t serve us, this brings down our creative energy; meaning we don’t function to our full capacity. The world does’’t get to experience the full version of us.
What we think, we become - Buddha
What we think, we become is a reminder to monitor our thoughts and realize…
We are not our thoughts.
We can discipline and have control over our thoughts.
By becoming more mindful of our thoughts we have power and recognize our responsibility in choosing how to act or respond in relation to them.
We can question our thoughts, that create our feelings, so that we don’t allow them to consume us.
Doing will not alter being
Somewhere along the way we prioritized doing from being, being is very different from doing. It involves putting our ‘to-do’ lists to one side, so that we can spend time in reflection.
Reflection
Consider thing’s such as purpose, values and priorities. Reflection helps us feel grounded and calm. Introspection helps us explore and understand who we are. Enabling us to feel more like a ‘human being’ rather than a ‘human doing’.
Connection
Connection is a crucial part of being, we need it in order to thrive. It is the foundations on which our lives are built around. This includes our relationships with another person, thing or idea. We can connect to ourselves, nature, beliefs and a higher power.
All good things take time, working with ourselves can be challenging, but the rewards are far greater. Like cleaning out a wardrobe, it’s messy before it gets clean. When you feel like giving up, that’s a good indicator to spend more compassionate time with yourself.
'I am a human being, not a human doing. Don’t equate your self-worth with how well you do things in life. You aren’t what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don’t…you aren’t' - Dr Wayne Dyer.
Written by - Lola Hampson-Ghani
