Mindfulness; a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations.
What does it truly mean to be mindful?
Mindfulness is really a way of life and can help you to reduce stress and anxiety, develop a more conscious relationship with your body and tune-in to the higher calling of your soul purpose.
There are five main philosophies behind living a mindful life:
Truth: acknowledging who you truly are and standing up for your hearts desires rather than caving into the wants of the ego or other people.
Openness: embracing all people, points of views and opinions as an opportunity to learn, grow and practice compassion.
Intention: acting from a place of love and pro-activeness, rather than responding based on past hurts, societal conditioning or fears.
Grace: accepting what is in the present moment and responding with kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
Oneness: acknowledging that you are part of the infinite Universe and that all things are connected on a deeper energetic level.
If you want to start living a more mindful life and adopting the above philosophies into your every day experience, here is how to get started.
Step #1: Release the Past
So many of us are carrying around bags of past memories, hurts and experiences. You are not defined by your past, you are only defined by what you to right now, in this present moment. You don’t deserve to torture yourself with the emotions or events of the past. Learn to let them go, take what you learnt and then release the rest. Practice forgiveness and understand that everything what necessary to get you where you are today.
Step #2: Release Expectations
When you have strong expectations about the way things should or shouldn’t be, you not only block the flow of life but you also create unnecessary stress and anxiety. Learn how to let go of your expectations and instead open yourself up to trusting and surrendering to the flow of the Universe. When you create space to accept what is, without imposing your own judgements, that is when you can truly be at peace.
Step #3: Bring it Back to the Breath
Your breath is the most powerful tool you have to reconnect with the present moment. Usually stress and anxiety are created when we get caught up in our thoughts or future events that are yet to come. To bring your awareness back to the present moment and to reduce your heart rate, simply focus on taking some deep, mindful breaths. This helps you to instantly reconnect and helps you to stay present.
Step #4: Practice Gratitude
Taking a moment to acknowledge all that you are thankful and grateful for is the quickest way to shift and raise your vibration. We all have things to be grateful for in every day and in every moment. Make it a habit of reflecting on all your blessings and you will change the entire outlook of your life to a more positive and mindful direction.
Step #5: Unconditional Love
Unconditional love truly starts with yourself and is then reflected outwards. Learning to love and accept every part of you is the only true way to fully live a conscious and mindful life. Start by learning to love and accept all of your flaws, errors and scars and then practice learning to love and accept the same things in those around you. It may be hard to love your enemies, but sometimes it is the people who have hurt you the most that need the most love and acceptance. Remember, you don’t have to tolerate bad behaviour in your life, but you can send your love while you go about making practical changes.
Mindfulness is really about finding fulfilment in how you live by conditioning your mind to see everything from a place of deep, positive awareness rather than from a place of fear or the ego.
Try implementing some of these steps into your daily life and see how it changes your world.
Looking to practice some mindfulness rituals? Here are 3 quick and easy rituals you can do every day.
