Mindfulness: What Is It? (Even if you dont know please post so we can help grow the forums accordingly)

[blondguy]

Hi Everybody

This is only the basic dictionary definition...

"Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment without judgement"

• Please be as blunt you wish....If you dont have an idea about mindfulness it would be great if you could let us know
• If mindfulness hasnt worked/or is too broad a concept for you it would great if you can let us know your thoughts too
• If mindfulness has helped you, please help others to help themselves by posting how you have embraced this mindset

It goes without saying that the forums are a judgement free zone and I really hope that everyone can jump in and have their say

Your input is highly valued no matter how you respond to this topic. There are no experts here...New Posters are Most Welcome!!

My Kindest Thoughts

Paul

[MyLadyGirl]

Hello sparrowhawk,

You are not neglecting yourself, your are helping others and that is good. Don't think you have neglect yourself. By helping others, you are also helping your self as it maybe your experience as well. One cannot know nor help others unless they experience it by self and realizing that what they do can learned many things. Sometimes when we are involve pulling out is difficult. You need time where we need to let that person learn from their mistakes.

[quirkywords]

MyLadyGirl

I want to thank you so much for very informative and honest posts.

I don't really feely that nothing is impossible. It would be impossible for me to be an Olympic gold medal winner at any age. It would not be possible and no matter of practice would change that.

I do think some things are possible if we have the skills, the opportunities and of course the right attitude.

I feel the right attitude and belief is not enough at times. These are just my thoughts and many may differ.

I admire the way you think and am pleased that works for you. .

Thanks again for taking time to explain the different concepts.

Quirky

I like reading other people's thoughts and ideas and that is why I like the forums.

[blondguy]

Hi Everyone

Hey Quirky....Thankyou for your solid support and speaking from the heart too...Your reply to MyLadyGirl is spot on....You replied "you seem to have a great understanding of mindfulness and meditation and the difference" Nice1 Q

Hey Sparrowhawk....Thanks for outlining the 'criticism' part of your experience. I understand where you are coming from as I have done the same for years,even overthinking why someone has given me a compliment.Just straying off my own topic for a moment....you mentioned "I am trying my best to be kind and gentle to myself, but I am not very good at that"..There are no experts on this SH...I do know that you choosing to be a part of the forums is being 'gentle/kind' to yourself. You do deserve credit for your involvement here 🙂

Hey MyLadyGirl.....Your caring and knowledgeable contribution is very highly valued...and please dont say sorry for anything...I wrote this thread topic a long time ago as I and many others have difficulty in understanding the concept of 'Mindfulness'...Even though we 'get it'..practicing it is another matter altogether. Thankyou so much for taking the time to explain the difference as per your life experience. We really need your (and everyone else's) knowledge on this topic.

MyLadyGirl mentioned "a state where we sleep thinking of nothing. Especially when we deep sleep. When we deep sleep we do not know what's happening to the mind. It's like emptiness" I did try to mention above when I tend to mother earth (gardening..landscaping) I actually dont concentrate/focus on anything....my mind is devoid of thoughts and actually lose track of time...thus experiencing what you mentioned above.

I do find it peculiar when 'some' health professionals recommend 'mindfulness' as a tool and expect their patients to understand what they are talking about. Maybe I am showing my age..yet in the 1980's my health professionals only dealt in 'grounding' and cognitive behavioral therapy...the latter worked so well

Thankyou again MyLadyGirl for helping me and other members with your knowledge on mindfulness...Its why this thread topic was written in the first place 🙂

Note: Approx 70% of the people that 'click' on the Beyond Blue forums are people that choose to benefit by 'reading' the forums. The remainder (approx 30%) choose to post their life experiences like everyone on any thread topic including this one to help people help themselves

Excuse I for the super long post..oops!

my kindest always

Paul

[Doolhof]

Hi Everyone,

Greetings to Paul, My Lady Girl, Quirky, Moon and Sparrowhawk

Paul you are so right in mentioning that many people may just read things here on the forum and not feel a need to join in and that is perfectly okay.

We all use the forums as our needs and desires dictate.

The topic choices are so vast here it is excellent. I want to thank all who contribute here, there is so much that can be learned by other people's experiences.

Mindfulness works better some days for me than it does other days.

Today we have some much needed drizzling rain. I plan to sit out on a bench under the porch for a while and just mindfully take in the world around me.

Cheers all from Dools

[quirkywords]

Hi everyone reading,

Paul, your summaries are so helpful and I find I can go back to the original post and understand more.

i agree with how you experience gardening, I am like that when I sort out my books especially into alphabetical order or subjects. I suppose I am focussing on the books but after a while I just get into a zone where I don’t notice time and am on automatic pilot. I am not sure what that is called but it stops my overthinking and that is a good thing.

I sometimes think mindfulness has become an umbrella term for so much and people say have you tried mindfulness without realty knowing what it is.

For me from this thread I have learnt we may have different ways of achieving the same thing. if what I do is not exactly like the definition of mindfulness as long as I achieve some calm I feel that’s ok.

Thanks everyone for you great posts .

Quirky

[MyLadyGirl]

Hello Quirky,
I am delightful for the complement and open minded that you have told me that something cannot be achieved if we tried harder. I respect what you said and what you said does give a point.
However, from what I understand and what I think and learned of watching people that are surrounding me, many people like to limited one self to what they want to limit them to do. They do not like to go beyond their capacity thinking that they many fail. As you have written in your post saying, ‘It would be impossible for me to be an Olympic gold medal winner at any age. It would not be possible and no matter of practice would change that.’ If we are in old age due to health reason saying not achieving in Olympic would be impossible. But that’s what the mind one you to think and believe. Yes my age is old, my body is weak but with me mindset we will not achieve it no matter what that’s what we practise. But liking and determination not giving priority to it may achieve. And that is up to us.
Saying that, it’s not what or how it has worked for me. It’s how I learned about life. It’s how I analysed things and why am I a great failure with lots of depression, why people believe that, that works for them cause they talk as if they know everything and just because they did it other can’t do it as well. Not all are like you MyLadyGirl. But that not true. That is not the case at all. I have not or have worked into that direction. I am still a failure. I need to do lots of learning and test to myself before I learn. My brother used to said this to me,’ To achieve gravitation Albert Einstein went to thousand of test and one made it to his theory’. That’s what I am doing. Learning from this forum made me realise a lot of things too.

Hi Paul,
Me saying sorry is how I am for allowing people to not judge me because I am straight forward person and think from my mind and heart. Saying sorry is because I am apologizing to people reading my post not to be offended or get upset to what I talk about. Not all will be able to think likewise about my post as they feel what I say have hurt them in many ways. So, I do apologies to what I say have hurt them in may ways.

Glad that you immersed yourself to gardening where you are one with the garden. That's what is all about. Being one with what we do.

Dools, love to do that as having peace of mind with the enjoyment of the rain. But me doing nothing and just being lazy is also part of mindfulness.

Thank you all for sharing

[Doolhof]

Hi LadyGirl,

I agree with you, about doing nothing and mindfulness. For me, doing nothing can be very important. It is a way to refocus, restore strength, perspective and to practise mindfulness.

One time when I was reading, my husband asked what I was doing when there was work to be done. I told him that I was looking after my emotional and mental health and it was the best thing I could do at that moment.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Cheers all from Dools

[MyLadyGirl]

Hello Doolhof.. That's what I do at home. I love to watch tv but sometimes my mind goes blank but the thing I love most is to sleep. That's where and when my mind thinks nothing rather then relax and in peace. When we are awake we think better.

[blondguy]

Hi Everyone.....New members are very welcome to post about mindfulness too 🙂

Hey Dools....Thankyou for your great post. I was letting members know that they are helping more people than they realise as 70% of the 'clicks' to the forums are readers who benefit from our members posts. (a compliment to everyone!)

Dools....how would you describe 'mindfulness'? I have a rough idea yet still after other peoples thoughts 🙂

Hey Quirky.....Thankyou for your super helpful (and kind) post. You mentioned an excellent point regarding the term 'Mindfulness'...

Quirky mentioned "I sometimes think mindfulness has become an umbrella term for so much and people say have you tried mindfulness without really knowing what it is" I have to agree with you on this Quirky..well said. Good1

Hey LadyGirl....I understand where you are coming from when you mentioned 'sorry'. You speak from the heart and mean what you say despite what other people think and that is okay as your posts are respected and valued here like all of ours. Sometimes the written word can be misunderstood as we are not speaking voice on voice

LadyGirl mentioned "There is nothing in life that is impossible. Everything is possible. It's you limiting that" Like yourself I also speak from the heart too....Can I respectfully ask how this is can be helpful to someone with any type of a mental health condition? I did read your post (and it was an excellent one!) I dont think that everything is possible and we are only limiting ourselves. I know that having mental illness for 37 years is disabling and extremely difficult recover from. Please feel free to help me understand if I have read this incorrectly

my kind thoughts

Paul

[Ggrand]

Hello Paul and everyone..🤗..

I don’t know if I’m talking right..I know this thread is for mindfulness as a way of calming our minds..

I do read the posts on this thread but do get behind at times..something happened to me today..that reminded me um quite painfully that being and trying mindfulness doesn’t ever stop....even when we are doing things like sewing..cleaning or cooking...

I was cooking tonight with a wandering mind when things went wrong and I got burnt...Not to badly but very ouchy....it taught me a lesson that we should try to be mindful of everything we do...just wanted to give everyone a gentle reminder if that’s okay...

I always thought that mindfulness was about calming our minds..which I do most days as I watch and feed the birds..also I love watching the clouds drifting by...That I think is one type of mindfulness...another type of mindfulness i think is being very mindful while we are doing our chores, enjoying ourselves or even eating....

I hope I didn’t interrupt the ongoing conversation too much...I just wanted to share something that I learned today...and say hello to everyone posting or reading..

Kind thoughts everyone with love and hugs.💜🤗..

Grandy..