What Does Mindfulness Look Like in Practice and Real Life?

“Mindfulness is spoken about frequently nowadays. Despite that, many people are not aware of how mindfulness applies in their life. For some, the practice of mindfulness ends with their 10-minute meditation practice on their mindfulness app. The following story shows what mindfulness can look like in a daily life.

The story

This morning, I was totally caught in my head and my mood—I was tired and cold and just fed up. I had to go out for an appointment, and I really didn’t want to walk for 30 minutes in the cold and back. About three times, I nearly didn’t. Then the disciplined and self-caring part of me pushed me out of the door because I knew that this appointment would be healthy for my body. Of course, by the time I left, I was 10 minutes late already, so now I’m walking through the cold, rushing and trying not to slip on the ice and still caught in my head, grumbling and complaining. I know that this is usually a prompt for my inner critic. It loves stepping in during moments like this to point out how things are always negative and how there is something wrong with me. It loves to make me feel guilty for grumbling about these petty problems when there is much bigger suffering in the world.

I got lost in this for a bit longer, but then I suddenly looked down, and I saw the snow. Mind you, the snow was there all along, but I wasn’t actually looking at it—I had been looking through it as I was more focused on what my mind was chattering about. The snow literally stopped me in my tracks. I am a very visual person, and the pure whiteness of the snow caught my attention. It looked so beautiful at that moment that, in a split second, it brought me crashing back down to Earth. Then, like dominoes, it all started to change very quickly. I started to see the sunshine against the snow; I started to feel the sun. I still felt cold, but the judgment around it being horrible and uncomfortable dropped. I was still late, but it was OK, and I knew that I could apologize and still make the most of a short appointment because it was important. The rest of my walk and my walk back home were totally different experiences. My heart felt more open, and my mind felt calmer, even though my body still felt cold!

This story is an example of how we can: 1. Recognize when we are caught in our thoughts and emotions; 2. pause; 3. shift and refocus our attention; 4. become mindful and wake up to what is happening in the present moment without judging it; 5. snap out of our heads and get back into living and experiencing what is right in front of us; 6. have difficult moments, but know that they pass and are not permanent and do not have to define the rest of our day and identity; 7. feel an uncomfortable emotion and, in the next moment, experience a good emotion and realize that they can co-exist together; 8. hold all of the internal workings of our thoughts and emotions lightly and with wisdom and compassion; this can help us go about our day and activities with less of an internal struggle”

Read the whole article at Psychology Today

#Mindfulness #PresentMoment #EverydayLife

💬 How do you practice mindfulness?/ If you do not, how could you start?