Modern Day Mindfulness

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Mindfulness may feel like another one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around like confetti and seems unattainable in our current reality. So what is it, and how can we apply it to the modern world far removed from silent monasteries perched on snow capped peaks? 

Mindfulness is the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. Put simply, it is to become familiar with. The important part perhaps missed by definition is that this quality of awareness and observation is not selective, it is constant and without judgement or label of “good” versus “bad”. It needs no explanation that this state can help us pay curious attention to our emotions and experiences, and give us space to respond rather than react to people and situations. 

So what could this look like in our modern day to day? 

  • slowing down to feel a moment in all it’s sensations, fully present rather than multitasking or taking it for granted  

  • noticing your tendency to get frustrated in traffic, judgemental on social media, or irritated in queues and taking a moment to choose to respond differently 

  • eating without laptops, phones, work, books and other clutter obscuring your sensory experience of food 

  • being honest with the distractions you reach for to ‘numb-out’ and instead being curious as to what you’ve been experiencing to feel the need for them 

  • listening fully - finding the layers of sounds, the inflection in tone, the vibration of music 

  • acknowledging the mental rabbit hole of “what if’s?” without descending into it

  • walking without podcasts and phone calls but with awareness of all your senses, this is a great way to cultivate calm and gratitude 

  • observing your knee-jerk reactions of anger or judgment to feel them fully for what they are (hint: often it’s not really anger - what emotion is underneath it?) 

  • recognising when you’re running on autopilot and zooming out to see the possibilities of doing things differently 

  • accepting when you need to apologise, and fronting up to do it! 

And what is it not? 

  • eliminating thought altogether (hint: it’s impossible!) 

  • sitting in silence and stillness (though it can be!) - meditation and mindfulness are not one and the same, meditation is simple a form of developing mindfulness as it limits our external stimuli

Mindfulness lets us savour pleasure, decrease stress and burnout, decrease regret and worry over the past or future, and improve both physical and mental health.