Being Mindful With Our Mental Health
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing, and yoga. It helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that, instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them
Mindfulness can be used as a tool to manage your well-being and mental health. Some people call mental health ‘emotional health’ or ‘wellbeing’. We all have times when we feel down, stressed, or frightened; most of the time those feelings pass, but sometimes they develop into a more serious problem, and this could happen to any one of us.
It’s important to maintain your mental health, but being mentally healthy doesn’t just mean that you don’t have a mental health problem. With good mental health, you can:
- Make the most of your potential
- Cope with life
- Play a full part in your family, workplace, community, and among friends
2 important components of Mindfulness:
Awareness: Awareness allows you to notice emotions, anxieties, negative perceptions and self-talk as they arise, and before they become entrenched. By noticing these things early, you can be more flexible in your responses.
- An open and accepting attitude: An open and accepting attitude allows you to accept whatever arises, rather than trying to suppress it (which doesn't often work). When we accept our emotions, we aren't struggling with internal conflict, so we have more resources to deal positively with the situation.
Is mindfulness for me?
Mindfulness is recommended as a treatment for some people who experience common mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. It’s also for those who simply want to improve their mental health and wellbeing. Depending on what you’re looking for, there are different ways to learn mindfulness, which can help people in different ways. Anyone can learn and practice mindfulness: children, young people, and adults can all benefit.
How do you learn Mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be practiced in person, either through a group course or one-to-one with a trained mindfulness coach. There are online courses, books, and audio, too, where you can learn through self-directed practice at home.
- Mindfulness Community: https://www.7cups.com/home/mindfulness/
- Mindfulness Videos and Exercises: https://www.7cups.com/forum/MindfulnessSupportCommunity_106/ResourceLibrary_1062/
- Quick & Easy Meditation Guide for Beginners: https://www.7cups.com/exercises/mindfulness1/
@CheeryMango
What a very educated and detailed post on mindfulness! Thanks for taking the time to give information about mindfulness, its benefits, resources, and even an option to think if mindfulness could be for us individually.
I would like to share something small about my journey with mindfulness. At the beginning of being introduced to it, I had a hard time finding it helpful and comforting. A lot of times it triggered my anxiety. I don't know if it was the focus or the way the people talked in it that caused this. My therapist has helped me a lot by slowly introducing me to mindfulness and the exercises with small, short exercises and it has been a giant help. It's been great getting into mindfulness as there are so many benefits in our lives! Thanks again for sharing this!
@Jenna
HI Jenna good to see you. Mindfulness does grab at many people's anxieties sometimes fewars and just over all uncomfie. That is why we do not push it-but find things that are smaller and easier to do. Thing is many think mindfulness is all about focusing on breathing-nope. That does play a key factor later on when people have more skills accomplished. Doing mindfulness can be so small as observing yourself making the sandwich. Smells tastes textures and so on.
I am so so glad your therapist is working with you on this slowly. Thank you for sharing❤️
@Jenna I hear you about being triggered. In the mindfulness discussions done on Monday 3:30 PM and Thursday 5PM EST, I often see people who say I cannot connect with my breath. It triggers me. The good thing about mindfulness is anything can be a focus of mindfulness. Our favorite pet, nature or anything that makes us comfortable.
Thanks for sharing.
@CheeryMango
Lovelt post about the benefits of mindfulness
As someone who practises mindfulness almost everyday, i can really feel the difference before I started practising mindfulness. The part of being aware of your emotions and being grounded in your thoughts gives you a clear mind even during stressful and overwhelming situations.
Also Jenna's post was also worthy to take note of. Many people have a certain misconceptions about mindfulness, ranging from meditating in the Himalayas to sitting still, with nothing on your mind for hours at a stretch. But mindfulness is a conscious actions of being aware of ourselves for a little amount of time, be it 3 minutes or 5 minutes I firmly believe that it's always important to start with small steps, and mindfulness falls in in too. All little drops are what makes a huge ocean 😁
@CheeryMango thank you so much for creating this post ! <3 mindfulness is extremely important and vital to mental wellness :) it's very important to practice mindfulness; it makes you feel so much more at peace and really helps you to thrive
@CheeryMango
Wowzers Mangooooooooooooo👍 Thank you for this detailed discussion on Mindfulness. Main thing is yes being open minded and awareness. Again thank you!
@CheeryMango
What a wonderful post! 😍 I agree with you on mindfulness.. It's actually a way to overcome so many things.
In my opinion it doesn't matter if you're struggling with stress, anxiety or any other mental health related problem or not (cause they happen once in while for everyone), just taking a small time of the day to practice mindfulness could make a huge difference in the way we see things, the way we feel, the way we co-op and etc.
Ofcourse it's never easy to practice those big mindfulness activities at the beginning. However, we can start by simple steps..and every step counts. 😊
While practicing we might find our mind wondering here and there (after all our minds are so creative and free spirited that it just fly 😄)
Yet, as the saying goes.."Practice makes perfect!" We're not aiming for perfection but simply to find a way to get connected with yourself a lot more in a beautiful way.
Sorry if I added too much details 😋
Thank you for posting this Mango. It's really helpful and I'm sure many will find it to be so too...❤️
