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Mindfulness

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Yes, just being mindful is a helpful exercise each day. Getting away from constantly thinking and just simply focusing on the task at hand. This can be done with many pursuits. Going for a walk and being mindful is something I enjoy; listening to the birds, feeling the breeze etc. The result for me is more energy and less mental noise.
 
I've never really been involved in the therapeutic industry. I was lucky enough to find a fantastic counsellor (narrative approach, avoids labels/definitions) seventeen years ago who rarely uses most therapeutic definitions. I've never heard of many of them!

The best way to gradually understand mindfulness is to practice it. I've just been on a long walk, focusing on the sound of my feet on gravel, grass and bitumen. Listening to the intensity of my breath increase as I walked for longer. I had thoughts occurring now and then but just watched them pass by, like clouds in the sky. I didn't pursue those thoughts, so they just drifted away.

Its a great way to clear the mind of constant thoughts but it does take practice and some discipline. A good friend of mine said to me many years ago, 'Stick at it for six months before you make a judgement on it.' She was right.

I use mindfulness to help me sleep, along with exercise. It works better most times for me than tablets, with no side effects. :-)
 
being mindful of. The best explanation to date!

I agree that is a good explanation.

But I don't agree with it just being a fancy name. Mindfulness all started with Buddhism which in this case was more for what I was aiming for since I work mostly on logic and reason concepts. What I was looking for was the more complex, the more towards knowledge and understanding of life. Honestly probably less about the psychological view. Wikipedia actually has both the Buddhism view and the psychological view. I admit that I don't know enough yet about it.

I realize that my original post was mostly about the psychological view point but that is only because that is something I understood/ understand.

I know someone who is Buddhist and has been for a long time. I am thinking of asking him.

So I really don't think it's nonsense...
 
A lot of people find the Jon Kabat-Zinn/Pema Chodron/very Buddhist oriented approach helpful. I'm not one of them. It's just about what suits you. If you find that slow, half-smiling style helpful then you're lucky because there are lots of resources that teach mindfulness that way.

If you don't happen to find that style helpful then there are other resources. The book I found most useful was Introducing Mindfulness: A Practical Guide by Tessa Watt. I thought I'd mention that there are alternative ways to learn about it because the things that people usually recommend, and especially the classic chewing-a-raisin exercise, were so offputting to me that it delayed me learning about mindfulness for some time.
 
I thought there was a difference between mindfulness and meditation?

"Mindfulness is defined as being attentive and aware, non-judgmentally,whereas meditation is engaging in a mental exercise (as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for spiritual or relaxation purposes..."

There is a difference, I have been doing meditation for years but really only got into mindfulness last year.
 
The best way to gradually understand mindfulness is to practice it. I've just been on a long walk, focusing on the sound of my feet on gravel, grass and bitumen. Listening to the intensity of my breath increase as I walked for longer.

Its a great way to clear the mind of constant thoughts but it does take practice and some discipline. A good friend of mine said to me many years ago, 'Stick at it for six months before you make a judgement on it.' She was right.

Practice is interesting.

I was doing mindfulness most of the day whilst I was working outside chainsawing feral trees down and thoughtfully disposing of the waste. I had a different quality to my thinking, my being present and the way I moved through the day.

There are many mindfulness exercises to practice - it is important to know that there is also some that assist in disrupting rumination by focusing on other things or using the word "Stop!" and redirecting focus.
 
Mindfulness

a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is."

This is what I feel you do a lot in your diary @Ayesha. It is really clever of you to do it the way you do it.
 
There are difficult qualities of mindfulness, there are also many different mindfulness practices. I did an 8 week course and I found it most illuminating.

The non-judgmental aspect of it is most important.

The being present in this now, being mindful of what is here now are all great ways of experiencing and thinking about it. There are deeper levels of understanding that develops as your practice develops.
 
I first encountered the wonder of mindful meditation and mindfulness in my day to day activity when I chose not to speak for ten days, whilst on a surfing hiatus in my south coast caravan. It changed my life.

Because I suffered very severe and prolonged childhood sexual torture and abuse, I will always have times of strong emotion and mindfulness has allowed me to be virtually free from medication for many years, even though I suffer daily.

Mindfulness is actually a very natural state to be in but the modern mind is so obsessed with thinking that we think its all the mind is good for.

Find a simple practice that works for you and stick at it, that would be my encouragement. Over time, the neural pathways begin to change and the habit of more stillness in the mind is established.

It takes months, even years of practice to really see the results.
 
I just pulled the book from the shelf, it is Emotional Alchomy. I read it many years ago and found it extremely helpful. I am going to read it again.
 
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