Mindfulness

In the day and age of the millennial we have begun to hear more and more about the importance of mental health and the benefits of mindfulness.

What is mindfulness? Is it just something hipsters do, or is mindfulness just for the millennial generation?

The clinical definition for mindfulness is “the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally,” says Kabat-Zinn. “It’s about knowing what is on your mind.”

In simple terms, mindfulness is controlling your thoughts to focus in the moment. Not putting much thought on the future nor the past, the idea being you perform best when you are concentrating on one thing, which is the now. Athletes refer to playing completely in the moment as their “white space.” Where the only thing on their mind, is their task at that exact moment. It is said when athletes play in their “white space”, they are playing at their peak performance level.

Mindfulness is not just one step, or one concept, mindfulness has many components wrapped into one practice. One of the most important components wrapped into mindfulness is being able to see your personal behavior, choices, and thoughts through third person perspective. Being able to take your emotions out of the current situation. To take the emotions out of the decision-making process, the brain is then allowed to make a clear, well thought out, decisive, correct decision.

Many individuals look at themselves in the third person point of view all of the time, never fully realizing that they are looking at themselves in third person perspective. For example, athletes are known to watch previous game film after the game to understand their mistakes. They do this in third person.

The third piece of mindfulness is comparison. “Comparison is the thief of happiness.” To fully understand and practice mindfulness, you must first stop comparing yourself to others.

When you begin comparing yourself to others, what they’re better at than you, what they have that you don’t have, or something you envy them for. This is stealing your happiness. Instead of focusing on how much you have to offer you begin to focus on others, and not the current moment or the correct perspectives.

There are many ways of practicing mindfulness, and simple ways you can incorporate practicing mindfulness into your daily life. My personal favorite ways are one, listening to music, while focusing on the lyrics, and two focused breathing.

If you are being challenged by mental illness, wanting to improve performance, or simple wanting to enjoy life more. Mindfulness in everyday life will help you obtain your goals.

Surfers describe a form of mindfulness while surfing