What is Mindfulness?
You may often have heard the term ‘mindfulness’ and wondered what it means. In basic terms, mindfulness is maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. We achieve it by creating quietness, stillness, and awareness in ourselves while filtering out critical or self-deprecating thoughts.
The benefits of mindfulness have been well-documented. Studies suggest that focusing on the present moment can positively impact health and well-being. As a result, mindfulness-based treatments help reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. Similarly, evidence shows that mindfulness can lower blood pressure, improve sleep, help with pain management, and improve the quality of life for those with chronic conditions.
How to Practice Mindfulness
An easy way to begin is to focus on each breath, resting your attention on the inhalation and exhalation.
Start by finding a quiet place where you can become aware of the sensation of your breath. Feel the rise and fall of the belly and chest. Pay attention to the breath moving in and out. Notice how it’s cool on the inhale and warm on the exhale. In other words, focus on it and nothing else.
Occasionally, your mind will wander, or something going on around you distracts you (and it will) simply bring your attention back to the breath. However, do this without judging yourself or “rating” your performance because it’s entirely normal. Just begin again and do this for whatever time you set aside. Soon, you’ll notice a distinct difference in how you’re feeling.
Mindful Alternatives for Variety
Mindful Listening—If you find your mindfulness journey challenging or want a change, adding music to your quiet time can be beneficial. Music is a source of creative energy and strength, and it can help you refocus and maintain your attention. While most music is valuable, mindful listening is most effective when quiet, relaxing music is used (so save Metallica for the weekend).
Mindful Seeing—Another option is Mindful seeing, which is consciously noticing everything within your visual field. You do this by focusing entirely on one thing, such as a beautiful country scene, the ocean, or a piece of artwork, as much as you can. It shifts your mind from thinking and doing to noticing.
Mindful Reading—Finally, mindfulness poems and meditations can help guide and refocus our attention away from routine and complex worries. They invite us into a world of raw beauty and emotions, challenging us to think and feel differently. To add a meditative component to poetry, read the poem out loud a few times. Discover the rhythm in words, like the beat in music or a heartbeat, and allow your breathing to sync with this pulse. The poem below is broken into small phrases to help you find this beat.
A Mindful Meditation on Stillness
The journey begins with a single step. Below, you will find a meditation and a poem you can use in your Mindfulness journey into stillness. Find a quiet place to sit, perhaps near a window where you can feel the breeze, by the ocean, or beneath a tree. Whatever place you choose, sit quietly and focus on your breath before reading the meditation and poem.
The Alluring Hush of Stillness sings softly to my heart and spirit, ever calling from the incorporeal ether of time and space, humming quietly in the chaotic rush, transposing the incessant clamor of the here and now. Ever present, like the delicate glow of a single candle against the darkness of night, the Hush of Stillness asks me to pause, draw a deep breath, and sense the treasure of the moment. For within the pulse of each fraction of time, amid the suspirations of the hands of the clock and throughout the dizzying turn of days, the Hush of Stillness lingers.
It is serenity nestled quietly like a dove in the swaying branches of the evergreen. Tranquility danced upon the water, sparkling like the shimmering show of morning. Harmony descending gently like fluttering snowflakes spiraling in the storm of life. The hush whispers through the turbulent noise of existence to the inner essence, speaking in tones only the soul truly comprehends.
Whenever I close my eyes, if I stop to see the sparkle of starlight, or when I stoop to brush my hands across the waving fronds of wheat swaying in the breeze, it is there. As the golden rays of the setting sun caress my cheek and the coolness of the evening zephyr runs its fingers through my hair, the Hush of Stillness becomes perceptible. During the evening, carols of birds that break through the calamity of every day speak softly. The Hush of Stillness finds distinction whenever the soft serenade of crickets replaces the noisy bluster perpetually surrounding us and wherever the shades of Autumnal foliage or the blushing colors of Springtide turn our heads.
Rest
in the Silence.
As Light
becomes the pulse
that beats within,
As Shadows
sigh in
Indigo song,
Breathe
in stillness.
While Patience
smiles from
the sparkling dawn,
While Charity
bends in
sweet simplicity,
Join the chorus
Of the Hush of Stillness
And allow
its symphony
To be
The only
blazing
congruency
Within.
.
Now, breathe deep, sigh, and repeat.
~Morgan~
