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What is Mindfulness?

 

It’s a good idea to define mindfulness and why it’s important to practice it. 

It is equally important to highlight how limiting words can be.  Consider for a moment, the word ‘cup’.  If asked to bring to mind the image of a cup, it is highly probable that of 25 people, there would be 25 slightly different images. Perhaps some would picture the sippy cup they just served juice for their toddler, or the wine glass they’re currently sitting with to relax after a long day. Some people will visualize in great detail by having a particular color come up for them, while some will consider a container with a specific shape.  Yet and still, each image could indeed be that of a cup.  And so, I offer this consideration when simply defining mindfulness.  It is this open-mindedness that becomes important when discovering what is to be gained from developing a regular, personal practice.

Laurie Cameron, author of the book, “The Mindful Day: Practical Ways to Find Focus, Calm, and Joy From Morning to Evening” defines mindfulness as “the awareness that arises when we deliberately direct our attention toward our inner experience, toward others, and toward the environment around us.”  Mindfulness is an expansive practice and has the potential to be a valuable tool in every facet of our lives.  At times, the potential that awareness offers to us can be blocked when our mind or attention becomes so fixated on a particular thing or way of being.  Mindfulness encourages a more open awareness and this, in turn can have implications that ripple throughout our life.  Mindfulness is an opportunity to become curious about the way we breathe, the way we eat, the way we move, the way we speak, and the list goes on and on.

Currently, what is your relationship with mindfulness?  What do you understand it to be?  In what ways do you practice mindfulness?  Also, are they aspects of your life that would benefit from a bit more mindfulness.  I invite you to spend some time and journal about this topic and please, feel free to share some in the comments.


"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."

-Mother Teresa


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