Mindfulness

Do you ever find yourself rushing from one thing to another? Arriving somewhere and not really knowing how you got there? Eating one of your favourite foods so fast that when its gone you haven’t even realised you have consumed it all?

In today’s world there seems to be so much emphasis on how much we can achieve, complete or strive towards and how fast we can do these things that we actually don’t pay full attention to what we are doing or what we are experiencing.

Mindfulness, or being mindful, is a simple practice of being ‘in the moment’ and having awareness of what is going on around us but also inside of us – noticing our breath, watching our thoughts, taking note of sounds that surround us both near and in the distance.

 

“It’s easy to stop noticing the world around us. It’s also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living ‘in our heads’ – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour”.

“An important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment. That might be something as simple as the feel of a bannister as we walk upstairs”.

 

Mindfulness aims to help you:

- Become more self-aware

- Feel calmer and less stressed

- Feel more able to choose how to respond to your thoughts and feelings

- Cope with difficult or unhelpful thoughts

- Be kinder towards yourself