Mindfulness is a form of meditation and being aware of what you’re doing. It helps us sense how our bodies feel and to notice what we see, smell, taste, and hear. It can also help us to be aware of our thoughts and feelings.
Your life can be busy and distracting. It’s easy to live in your head a lot of the time and forget about how your body feels. Your thoughts and feelings can take over.
Being mindful takes time to learn and does not come naturally, but it has lots of positive benefits.
Benefits of mindfulness
By noticing your feelings, you can be more in control of your emotions, rather than feeling like your emotions are controlling you.
It can also help you:
- feel less stressed
- focus on things
- improve your memory
- sleep better
Practice mindfulness
There are lots of different ways you can practice mindfulness.
You can think about colours, textures, smells, sounds, and how things feel. Try to focus your mind on one thing at a time for as long as you like and move on to the next one.
You can try and:
- look at 5 things around you
- listen to 5 different sounds – you could be outside and hear the wind or birds. If you are inside, you might hear a TV, people, or sounds from outside.
- touch 5 different objects around you
- dance – notice the music and how you move
- stretch – pay attention to your body and how it feels
- focus on an object – notice the shape, colour, and texture
- write– keep a journal to help organise and release your thoughts
- walk – feel the way the soles of your feet touch the ground
- eat or drink – think about how things taste and feel in your mouth
- colour or draw – enjoy the colours or shapes you’re drawing
It’s normal for your thoughts to wander. When this happens just refocus your mind back to what you were doing or back to your breath. If you do this every time it happens it will help your mind to learn.
You can do these exercises anytime and anywhere. You can do them for as long or as little time as you like.
Mindfulness is not for everybody and if you feel it is not for you, there are other ways you can get help.