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Being mindful can also help us to be less swept away by our powerful, habitual currents of thought and emotion, which can manifest as stress, depression, negative thinking, anxiety, anger, resentment or self-doubt.
Research has demonstrated the enormous benefits of mindfulness practice for our physical and mental health, with new studies out every month. Doctors and counsellors increasingly recommend mindfulness as an approach for patients with depression, stress and anxiety-related ailments.
many participants in mindfulness training have reported greater enjoyment and appreciation of their lives, as well as other benefits like greater self-awareness, greater acceptance of their emotions and increased empathy for other people. Neuroscientists are now backing this up with studies showing that meditation can strengthen areas of the brain associated with happiness, wellbeing and compassion.
You’re not even trying to get calm and relaxed, or to become a ‘better person’. You are befriending the person you already are, and the place where you are sitting, right now. If you do experience any sense of calm, it is not from stilling the
stormy weather of life, but from learning to ride its chaotic energy.
Mindfulness begins with recognizing that our common experience is not very mindful – that we are sleepwalking through much of our daily lives, blind and crashing into things. We stumble from place to place caught in a whirlwind of thoughts, missing what is in front of our noses.
Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.
What does it mean to be a human being? The mindful answer puts the emphasis on the word ‘being’. We are human beings, but we have forgotten how to be. We have become human doings, trapped in a mode of always doing, acting, achieving and keeping busy. When we stop, even for a moment, it can feel frightening and unnatural. Activity and busyness have become our default mode.
