What Is Mindfulness?
At the Thriving Mindfully Academy (TMA), we love to remind you that mindfulness is your birthright. That’s right you were born with the ability to be aware of what’s happening inside and outside of yourself in the present moment.
Mindfulness becomes a practice when you choose to pay attention to what’s happening inside and outside of yourself in the present moment with the Big 5: loving kindness, compassion, nonjudgment, patience, and loving kindness. The Big 5 are also mindful self-care vitamins you can take daily to strengthen your practice.
Here’s another TMA reminder we are passionate about sharing in our coaching, speaking, training, and resource development: mindfulness, self-care, and wellness are essential to creating a healthcare plan you can rely on.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness can help you improve your well-being, physical health, and mental health. That’s why mindfulness is essential to creating your own healthcare plan!
- Well-Being: When we choose to focus our attention on the present moment, we may discover it is easier to enjoy life as it occurs, find greater acceptance of what’s happening, and notice we are more present in our activities which can help us cope with the ebbs and flow of daily living.
- Physical Health: Scientists have discovered mindfulness techniques can help relieve stress, treat heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, and more.
- Mental Health: Psychotherapists have included mindfulness meditation in their treatment of patients who experience depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, relationship conflicts, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
The Connection Between Mindfulness, Wellness, and Self-Care
Wellness is becoming aware of and making healthy choices that support and strengthen your spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, and creative energy and well-being.
The “becoming aware of” refers to mindfulness and reminds you that mindfulness is your birthright and a practice you can choose to be present to what’s happening inside and outside of ourselves. When you practice mindfulness, you are choosing to notice healthy choices that can create wellness in your life, career, and business.
The “making healthy choices” refers to self-care. Self-care is the act of nurturing your spirit, heart, mind, body, breath, and life in ways that uplift you. Self-care practices make wellness come alive in your life, career, and business. They help strengthen and support energy and well-being.
When you marry mindfulness with wellness and self-care, you have everything you need to create a healthcare plan you can rely on.
You can bring mindfulness into your life when you use self-care practices and daily activities including meditation, yoga, journaling, walking, tai chi, mantra chanting, eating, bathing, speaking, listening, cleaning your home, and more. The key to making these practices and activities mindful is in your intention, choice, and awareness.
As you practice mindfulness, remember the following:
- You will lose your focus. You’re human. It’s normal and natural to lose your focus.
- When you lose your focus, smile when you become aware of the loss of focus, and use your breath as an anchor to return to the present moment. You smile because you are giving yourself an opportunity to practice your birthright. You breathe deeply because breathing gives you an opportunity to reset and return to the present moment.
- Release the need to criticize, judge or shame yourself when you loose your focus even if you lose it 10 times in 10 seconds. Use the Big 5 mindful self-care vitamins of loving kindness, compassion, nonjudgment, patience, and forgiveness to ground yourself as you remember mindfulness is a practice and a process.
Outsmarting Stress with Mindfulness
Watch the video to learn how to use the TMA’s S-T-R-E-S-S tool to cope with and/or outsmart stress, anxiety, and overwhelming feelings.
Managing Your Time with Mindfulness
Watch the video to learn how to use the TMA’s T.I.M.E. Management Tool to practice mindful self-care and to help people like you create work-life balance.
Free Meditation & Mindfulness Webinar
Watch the 30-minute video of the Meditation and Mindfulness 101 training session I led during Keela’s Plugged In Nonprofit Tech and Transformation Conference on March 26, 2020.
Thriving Mindfully Podcast Episodes
Wanna know more about mindfulness? Check out the Thriving Mindfully Podcast episodes below.
- Mindfulness – What Is It? A Birthright & Practice
- The Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness
- Stress Less with Mindfulness and Make Your Breath Your BFF
- Using Mindfulness to Release and Forgive Yourself