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

blondguy
Champion Alumni
Champion Alumni

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

1,355 Replies 1,355

CMF
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member
Hi all,

Thx Paul. It does take time doesn't it, but we'll get there.

Em, I am enjoying the stretching although
forgetting to do it at times. I love the 'crucifix' suggestion. I noticed a few months ago I was breathing differently. Deeper, slower. Don't know why but it's good and I'm conscious of doing it.

Today I was pulling out weeds. Couldn't find my gardening gloves or tools so used bare hands. I noticed the soil was very soft and very wet and cold.The weeds came out easily, I love the feeling of the bigger weeds coming out roots and all. I used a small shovel to turn the soil,it turned easily. Before I picked up little miss from school I sat at a local cafe and had a chai. Had to sit outside and I was cold but the hot chai was lovely, with a hint of honey. I enjoyed the sweetness.

That was my mindfulness today.

Cmf x

quirkywords
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hello all

Donyou think once we concentrated on being in the moment but now with all the distractions of phones and i

ads and laptops and lots of noise,

CMF mentioned weeding. We have always gardened but we didn’t call it mindfulness,

I wonder have we over complicated our lives and then we create a whole industry about mindfulness.

I think that there are a few things which we now need to do on purpose which was done automatically in the past. For example in earlier time people worked with their hands & walked everywhere. Now we use cars & labour saving devices so we need to go to the gym or do specific exercises to make up for the execise we no longer do automatically.

I guess mindfullness is a way of getting us back in the moment

blondguy
Champion Alumni
Champion Alumni

Hi Everyone...New members are always welcome to post too!

Hey CMF..Quirky and ElizabethCP...thankyou so much for contributing your thoughts on Mindfulness

Just a note...Nurse Jenn posted an excellent post on another thread re mindfulness and how simple it really is. When I find her post I will copy & paste it in here....it was really good...and yes it included 'losing ourselves' when we are doing the gardening!

Happy Friday amazing people x

Paul

Balance
Community Member

Hi Everyone,

VISUALISATION is the tool I use to practice Mindfulness.

Mindfulness for me is simply living my life Moment by Moment, one Day at a time.

How did I arrive at this point?

I broke my life down into the natural rhythm of the 7 days of the week, and a profound shift occurred.

Focusing on living one day at a time brought strength, joy and gratitude to my life.

I also visualise one particular word on the day in the week, ie. on Wednesday HEALING and I then meditate on this word. So every Wednesday for instance, I visualise my own healing and say or txt a few words to a person who might be in need of a healing thought etc.

Mindfulness has become a way of life for me now.

These are the 7 words/qualities I focus on and practise each day:

Focus on Monday practising Patience
Focus on Tuesday practising Courage
Focus on Wednesday practising Healing
Focus on Thursday practising Faithfulness
Focus on Friday practising Caring
Focus on Saturday practising Stillness
Focus on Sunday practising Balance

Where Focus goes Energy flows ... and by focusing on a new word every day unhelpful thinking patterns can be changed one thought at a time, one day at a time.

The structure of this simple exercise can bring hope and balance to a person's life.

Warm regards,

B


quirkywords
Community Champion
Community Champion

Thanks balance,

for your thoughtful words to focus on each day of the week,

very helpful.

Hi All.

YES, phones, ads, laptops etc are unwanted distractions. Though we may also use them when starting mental health exercises. My father a case in point - he would do the exercises assigned by his psychologist at the laptop. They become unwanted distractions when they interfere with our regular lives.

Mindfulness is more of an activity focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts - perhaps as words or images on the side of a bus or train leaving a station.

Our lives have become complicated for many different reasons, perhaps too many to list here. Mindfulness however been around for a very long time, but came into western thought in the 1970s as a type of therapeutic exercise. The meaning of words can change the over time and when moving from one language to another. Mindfulness could also be a way of the telling us to slow down?

Hi Everyone....New posters are more than welcome too!

Hey Balance....Thankyou for taking the time to write such a super helpful thread..I hope you can stick around the forums....if you wish of course!

Hey Quirky...you are spot on about Balance's post being thoughtful and thankyou for ongoing care x

Hey Smallwolf....always a bonus to read your posts..no matter where you provide support! Awareness of the current moment is mindfulness...As you know I have had years of help from therapists...psychologists...psychiatrists...proactive GP's....they have never mentioned 'mindfulness' once.....they did discuss the power of distraction though....I am still learning about mindfulness Tim 🙂

Have a great night everyone

Paul

A quote from 'Starwolf' who used to be on the forums....and it has helped me so much

Starwolf mentioned "a common mistake is to fight (push forcefully away) intrusive thoughts.
Calm acknowledgment before focusing the mind elsewhere is the key
"

I hope others find this helpful

Paul

like the quote from starwolf but I worry the acknowledgement will leave to obsessive thinking yhtn overwhelming.

How does one stop acknowledgement from leading to motr intrusive thoughts.