How Can Mindfulness Help Me?

Mindfulness is an ancient practice found in a wide range of Eastern philosophies from Buddhism to Taoism to Yoga. It's helpful with anxiety, relationships, arguments, depression and stress, to name a few. But, being "mindful" doesn't mean that you have to give up your cell phone or laptop. It doesn't mean that you must sit in meditation and practice yoga all day long either. And, that's a good thing since most people can't give up work, school or family responsibilities for extended periods of time. 

So, how can Mindfulness be helpful? Practically speaking, Mindfulness is a way of observing your thoughts and experiences, as they are happening, without critical evaluation or judgment. One way to think about it is to imagine that your thoughts are like a pair of glasses through which you see the world. If you always wear the same pair of glasses (stress, worry, frustration, anger, hurt, etc.), it is likely that you will always interpret and experience the same thing. With Mindfulness, you begin to observe your thoughts and you explore wearing different "pairs of glasses".

If all that talk about wearing different glasses sounds just a little bit esoteric, how about trying out an experiment? In each experiment pay close attention to your senses and your minds reactions to your thoughts and emotions. 

Make the familiar new again. Find a familiar object such as a toothbrush, a picture or a cellphone  Look at the object with fresh eyes. Don't evaluate the objects purpose. Identify as many new details about the object that you didn't see before. 

Awaken your senses. Get an apple (or another piece of fruit if you don't like apples). Sit in a quiet place. Look at the piece of fruit. Smell it, feel it, and anticipate eating it. Taste the fruit, and slowly and deliberately chew it. Notice the way the taste changes, your impulse to swallow, your response to that impulse and any thoughts or emotions that arise along the way. 

More and more, research is showing that Mindfulness is helping people to reduce stress & worry, improve their relationships, and is helpful when it comes to catching self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors so that you can replace them with more effective ones. 

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