Mindfulness - What Actually Is It?

One term that is always floating around is mindfulness and it's not just in blogs and on social media, but in day-to-day life, books and traditional media, but what actually is it? I honestly wasn't too sure of the full meaning or completely understood it until recently, so if you are in the same boat, I hope this post helps!

In short, mindfulness is a very simple and basic form of meditation that can be done by anyone, anywhere.. It is the process of being aware and living in the moment and not thinking or worrying about the future or hanging onto the past. Mindfulness helps you to appreciate and experience every moment to it's full potential. It is also a way to acknowledge and accept your own feelings, thoughts and movements, meaning it can be used as a therapeutic technique and can help to combat stress, anxiety and nerves - this is where I tend to use mindfulness more mindfully as certain things - such as before going to an event etc - to help me become calmer and stop worrying so much.

Think about how many times you've sat down to eat a meal and before you know it, it's all gone but you felt like or didn't notice how it tasted? Or when you've left the house and can't remember if you turned the straighteners off? Mindfulness takes us off auto pilot and brings you back into the moment and makes you start (re)noticing the little things.

Next time you're flicking through a magazine, don't do just that on auto pilot - actually think about it and enjoy! Feel the paper in your hands, notice the colours used on the page, be aware of the movement of turning the page and the sound it makes. If your mind starts to wander - which it will - bring yourself back into the moment kindly and gently. You can apply this to pretty much anything in life from a chocolate bar to a cup of tea, mindfulness just makes you more aware of what you are actually doing.


Do you mindfully practice mindfulness and what do you think of it?
Also, would you like to see/read more posts like this? I'm always up for suggestions, so either leave them in the comments or feel free to tweet me them!

Love Laura x