The Importance of Mindfulness

Overwritten time, mindfulness has emerged and is currently define and interpret across and within various contexts. Dating back to the Buddhist tradition more than 2,500 years ago, mindfulness is the act of being conscious of the present. With life rapidly moving forward and with so much distraction present on the internet and on the daily, there is emerging appreciation for the notion of grounded attention and perception. The mental and physical health advantage linked to mindfulness are enormous as different studies show. This article establishes what mindfulness is and is not, gives its history, reviews the empirical research to date on its impact and offers guidelines for practice in daily life.  

What is Mindfulness?  

Mindfulness has been defined as the intentional, appropriate attention given to processes occurring at the present time. The approach entails watching moods and thoughts without being hijacked by them. Instead of focusing on the past events or being preoccupied with the future, mindfulness helps one stay in the present moment. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the Ph.D who played an instrumental role in bringing mindfulness in to the mainstream of medicine in the west, defines mindfulness as “the intentional, non-judgmental act of paying attention to the present moment.” Hence it is clear that mindfulness is notonly a matter of learning how to chill, or daydreaming. It means hinging the earnest effort at paying attention on curiosity but without endorsement.   

I asked myself, when being mindful, one focuses on our physical sensations, feelings, and thoughts, not assigning any judgment to it in our minds. In this case, we just watch what happens inside us and outside us. Simple things such as walking, eating or even washing dishes can be practiced with full attention when we pay attention to the feelings and thoughts occurring in our mind. Mindfulness practices exist for the breath, body sensations, sounds, thoughts, down to feelings. The objective here is to observe those objects of attention without grasping at them or becoming caught up in them. It serves to increase our awareness as to the nature of our experiences and protect us from being knocked off balance by positive or negative events.   

Origins of Mindfulness   

Even with regard to the practical method for self-improvement underlying the spirit of the current mindfulness movement, it is possible to track its line of evolution starting not more than 2,500 years ago roots in ancient India spirituality. Hindus were carrying out dharana, which involves focusing all thoughts and concentration to a wished for point in an effort to seek spirituality. Buddhism included mindfulness in the form of Vipassana or Insight meditation, which involves focusing the mind on the physical body to gain enlightenment to the facts of life. These Eastern traditions regarded mindfulness states as pointers to depths of the self and of the cosmos.   

In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn introduced a programme of mindfulness based stress reduction at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre probably kepting the mindfulness approach in the mainstream of modern medicine and psychology. He explained mindfulness more as a form of a clinical practice that instructs individuals in order to avoid and alleviate suffering by altering one’s attitude towards events. The other investigators also found that mindfulness was beneficial to health in a range of ways: enhancing the immune system and reducing symptoms of depression, among other things. The collection of research experiments which supports the advancement of effective, tangible techniques spear-headed the adoption of mindfulness in modern science and society.     

Exploring the Facts about Mindfulness    

A vast literature has emerged that demonstrates that mindfulness is helpful in a myriad of domains by eliciting physiological patterns conducive to human thriving. Specifically, it has been established as having not only diminishing effects on perceptions of pain and all things unpleasant, but also as having direct impact on the formation of different structures in the brain associated with attention, feelings, and general awareness of the self. Researchers have identified the following impacts of regular mindfulness practice:

Stress is cut short because mindfulness is found to decrease the level of cortisol, a stress hormone. It also helps to reduce neural networks responsible for feelings of fear, anxiety and distress.  

Healed body – Mindfulness initiates genetic changes that improve the immune system to combat diseases within the body.

Better sleep quality – As mindfulness reduces the arousal level of the nervous system, the quality of the sleep increases greatly.  

Hypotension – Minds training reduces blood pressure, pulse rate, and levels of plasma noradrenaline.

Hopeful thinking – Self-monitoring using brain scans reveal proportional activity in areas that are responsible for contemplating on decisions and reduced activity in parts that dictate reactivity.  

More attention – conscious concentration enhances the brain area responsible for attention and suppresses the area responsible for producing distractions.

Increased working memory – Mindfulness training leads to enhanced functional segregation between working memory networks reducing interference between different working memories.  

Greater self-consciousness – Mindfulness meditators have increased brain activity and connectivity with respect to self-referral and bodily aspects.

In short, mindfulness creates numerous psycho-physiological pathways that enhance growth, health, and wellness.

Cultivating Mindfulness   

The good news, though, is that it is not necessary to practice for months and years every day. Published studies indicate that is helpful to practice briefly, daily across 8 weeks. Here are some simple ways to incorporate mindfulness into daily routines:

Daily devotion – Spend about 5-10 minutes in the morning – Sit comfortably in a chair without your eyes open. Cue yourself to pay attention to the breath: you might locate it in an experience of inhaling and exhaling. This is the practice of mindfulness – if your mind has drifted to another place, return it to the breath without any criticism. 

Mental checkpoint – For example set alarm on your phone or watch for random time in between the lesson period. It’s always advised when they occur to pause the activity you are engaged in and evaluate your thoughts, feelings or even physical condition.  

Take care with foods – Turn meals into a more deliberate process by turning off other stimuli. Extend yourself and try to focus on the colors you see, the smell, taste, and touch of things. Chew your food more slowly and put your utensils on the plate between the bites.   

Body scan – Mentally run the focus of awareness over the entire body while paying attention to what it feels like to have sensations in the body without judge them as being either beneficial or detrimental. This body scan technique helps you become more aware of your physical condition.  

A mindful minute – Design brief mental-health breaks in the form of servings of mindfulness into your workday. In the queue, behind the wheel, in front of the lavatory mirror – place yourself in the mainstream to interrupt perpetual unconsciousness.  

Mindful walking – At that moment, do not engage in ‘comotisation’ or ‘prospective mentalisation’, that is, ‘switching off one’s mind’ or ‘thinking about what one will do next’ while walking, but consciously concentrate the whole field of perception on the process of walking itself, sensations of muscular movement, pacing of breathing, and qualities of touching the earth with one’s feet.  

Label feelings – Anytime you are overwhelmed by any feeling, learn to label the feeling and watch out for any thought and physical response associated with the feeling without passing judgment. Emphasising the ability to observe rather than to feel the emotions makes it easier for them to pass.  

The fast, busy stresses in current culture socialize our brain to constantly be in a state of fight or flight. Mindfulness thus offers the required counterpoint by engaging the physiological subsystems that engender organization, understanding and regeneration. Specifically, mindfulness helps people focus on the process, and not just the destination, which means that people don’t have to be constantly striving for something that is always just beyond their reach. Daily practice of mindfulness pays substantial dividends that stand proved by scientific research across most aspects of personal wellbeing, at the same time it offers a worldview. In conclusion, mindfulness can really help us open the chest full of peace and understanding that are hidden in each of us if only to pay attention to.