Have you ever tried mindfulness meditation? Are you at least curious about it? I have, and it is one of the best things I have ever done for myself. Let me explain why mindfulness meditation improves everything and why we should all embrace it as our best friend. So, let’s put it out there.
Many of us experienced driving and not remembering the actual ride. Mindfulness meditation teaches us to be present and gives clarity to our lives. Plus, it helps us to be more productive, among other things.
I don’t believe that experience is in any way unique to me. Have you ever eaten a meal and then did not remember how the food tasted because you ate it so fast? Mindfulness training can help with that. But, you might be thinking if that is all mindfulness offers, then it is not worth the effort.
Hold Your Horses
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1. What Is Mindfulness Anyway?
But what exactly is mindfulness, and how can it enhance my life and yours? According to The Mayo Clinic, mindfulness is :
A type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment.
The Way I Understand It
Now, let me break it down in my language. Mindfulness means being wherever you are. Being present wherever you are and with whatever you are doing.
Mindfulness Practice Is Not New
The practice of mindfulness has been introduced previously. Due to the internet, it has come to the global stage and has skyrocketed in the past 15 years. There is always a new Mindfulness App or a new YouTube video about mindfulness meditation. They only packaged and marketed it as something new.
Last week, I looked through an old notebook and saw notes I had written about mindfulness ten years ago. That is when I first became aware of it as something I should consider making meditation a part of my routine.
2. How To Practice Mindfulness Meditation
It’s pretty simple. Mindfulness gives the brain a much-needed rest from overthinking. That is why a good night’s rest or nap is essential. They offer both the mind and the body rest. Yet, mindfulness is critical to being more deliberate whether or not you have had a good night’s sleep.
Some teach that focusing on breathing is the best way to practice mindfulness. That is how I started. However, I have found other methods more effective.
Tick-Tock. Tick Tock.
I have an antique clock on the wall in my bedroom. It is a faint tick-tock, so it requires me to focus. When I wake up, I hone in on that sound before I open emails, check Facebook, and even before I play music.
Distant Sounds
Sometimes, I choose to focus only on distant sounds. That means the sounds of a distant train, traffic, or a conversation between neighbors. I may not know what they are saying and don’t want to, but I pay attention to the distant mumble of voices.
The Birds
Every morning, I wake up to birds having great conversations and singing songs to one another. I sometimes choose that as my focus. I can focus on the sounds without thinking about them too deeply. So, the key is to find that balance between focus without overthinking. At least, that is how it works best for me. You will find the sweet spot that works best for you with regular practice.
3. It’s A Good Time To Do A Full Body Scan
Some of the best mindfulness teachers say your meditation is an excellent time to do a complete “body scan.” A body scan is when you observe which body parts touch the bed, the sofa, the pillow, or the floor. It also means you hone in on any tension, stress, or pain in your body.
Do you get headaches, chest tightness, or leg cramps? Often those things result from emotional stress, and there are things you can do to clear that.
4. One Of My Favorite Meditation Teachers
There are many meditation teachers and many ways to practice it. But Emily Fletcher is one of my favorite teachers. I like how she uses mindfulness to lead into meditation. She calls mindfulness the appetizer and meditation the entrée.
Some teach that we should stop all thoughts when meditating. First, we cannot stop thinking altogether. Besides, we should not want to do that. Emily teaches that we should engage all five senses during meditation to get its full benefit.
In other words, we should focus on what we see, taste, feel, think and smell during meditation. I like that.
The Now, The Past, and The Future
Furthermore, Emily makes another distinction. She says that mindfulness helps us focus on how we are feeling now. For example, you are mentally present with the dishes you are washing by hand or the pruning you are doing in your garden.
But, her style of meditation clears the backlog of crap from the past. It reduces stress and improves our lives by training both sides of the brain to work together. In turn, this increases productivity even though it is single-task focused.
The main difference between Mindfulness Meditation and the style of meditation Emily teaches is that hers is more transcendent. It trains the mind to access what she calls the 4th state of consciousness.
The Physical Pain Of Meditation Surprised Me
The more profound kind of meditation is something I have also experienced that scared me in the beginning. When I started practicing meditation, I experienced body jerks with pain radiating from my chest cavity. I was unprepared for it, but it did not discourage me.
I braced for each painful body jerk and meditated at least once daily. Eventually, those painful jerks diminished. I still get them now and then, but they are nowhere near as painful as they used to be.
Ridding The Body, Mind, and Spirit Of Accumulated Stress
I reached out to more experienced friends in the meditation community. They said the body jerks released all the stress accumulated in my body over my lifetime. It certainly made sense to me because there was a lot I had just dealt with. Again, as I continued to meditate, those things subsided.
Incidentally, just today, someone asked about the body jerks that he is experiencing, and I explained it as others did for me.
Not everyone will have the same initial “symptoms” when they start their meditation journey because everyone has different energies to clear. Some of it could even be generational stuff passed down, and we are privileged to rid ourselves of that karma so it won’t get passed down to our descendants.
With better mental hygiene, I can now concentrate on the more left-brain and right-brain things I intend to accomplish through this practice.
5. Other Things To Focus On While Meditating
The sound of a refrigerator also works for mindfulness or meditation practice. So does the sound of an air conditioner. That humming sound is perfect for that.
You can use anything to give your mind a rest from the daily grind. Or use only your breathing. You get to decide what works best for you.
There is no one-size-fits-all for anything. It’s important to practice mindfulness until it is as routine as brushing your teeth.
You Are Not Trying to Stop Thinking Altogether
It is not the goal of mindful meditation to stop all your thoughts. That is not possible anyway. Your mind will wander because that is what it does. No worries.
The power is in recognizing when your mind does wander. You bring your thoughts back to your breath or whatever you choose as your focus. Again, the magic happens the second you realize it and then refocus. That split-second interval is what strengthens your mindfulness muscle.
The Sound Of Silence
Did you know that silence has a sound? I had not thought about it until I started practicing Mindfulness Meditation. It makes a hissing sound.
I have no scientific proof, but I imagine it is the sound of millions of air molecules bumping into one another. Things have to be very quiet and still in the room to hear, but it is a beautiful sound, and I often focus on it during my meditation.
6. All Those Hands Out The Fire!
A few years ago, “multi-tasking” was the latest and greatest of all fads. They told us we were more competent than others if we did eight things simultaneously.
Be present. We could do eight things at once, but attentive living is not about the activity. It has more to do with being mindful while doing the activity. Anyone can go through life’s motions without engaging with it. We have all lived that way, but there is a more excellent and productive way.
7. Mindful Eating Makes Your Meal A Lot Better
Sometimes, we gobble our food so fast that we don’t enjoy it, even if it satisfies our physical hunger. If you are having a meal, don’t try to balance your bank account or watch television simultaneously. That is also not the time to plan the next ten years of your life.
When we don’t focus, something suffers. I am guilty, but I am making changes. Everything else can wait while I eat my food for nourishment and enjoyment. Be present with your food so that you can savor every delicious bite.
8. Be Present With The People You Are With
Years ago, my daughter and my friend’s daughter bugged us about getting them together. Well, we set aside a lovely Saturday afternoon to get those two 14-year old’s together. And guess what? Soon after they greeted each other, they started texting people who were not there! When you are not mindful, you won’t notice if you are not present with the people in front of you.
Make The World Wait On You!
My girlfriend and I had to intervene to tell them, “Nah, it doesn’t work like that. You two wanted to get together, and we made that happen, and now you are hardly talking to each other. You two are together but talking to people who aren’t here. So, what was the point of us getting you two together?”
So, we made them put their phones away! We were trying to teach our girls to be where they were! In other words, we were trying to teach them how to stay present.
Guard Your Family Time
I did not allow my children to bring their cell phones to the table because mealtime was family time. I used to tell my children, “Let’s make the world wait on us. We are together now. This is our time”.
So, we talked to one another as we ate, not to people who weren’t with us. We asked how each other’s day was and what was going on in each other’s life. Mealtime is a great time to be present with your friends and loved ones.
9. Watch The Movie Of Your Life In Real Time
Mindful meditation teaches us to be observers of our own lives. It is like sitting in a movie theater watching the premiere of your own life in real time. If done correctly, you will be more enlightened. It is similar to being in the third person. You see how other people see you, not the person you think is showing up in the world. And there is some value in that as long as we keep it in perspective.
10. Mindfulness Teaches Us How to Self-Correct
But why is that important? A guaranteed way to be best positioned to self-correct is to become self-aware, and mindfulness practice helps with that. It keeps us grounded and less likely to get pissed off at annoying things people do. Mindfulness does not condone wrongdoing. Yet, it may help you put things in perspective and keep your emotions in check.
11. Helps To Identify What’s Paining You And Why
Learn What Triggers Your Pain-body
In his book Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle calls it the pain-body. The pain body can get in the way of seeing things for what they are rather than how we WANT them to be. I first “read” this book 20 years ago when a friend sent it to me on cassette tape.
I find Eckhart hard to listen to because his voice puts me to sleep. But I bought the book 15 years ago and completed my 3rd reading.
We can only see the world from where we have been and who we are now. I will discuss that in my next In the Spirit article, but let’s go with this for now.
12. Mindfulness Sheds Light On Your Stuff
Would you allow me to get a bit personal here? Not that I like to talk about me, but I would rather talk about me than talk about you.
One of the greatest needs that I have always had is the need for protection. So, I explode whenever I sense an attack or feel no one will protect me or advocate for me even when I deserve it. That stemmed from some childhood shit. That’s my pain body showing up.
The Me Before Mindfulness Practice
Before I started practicing mindfulness, this is how I thought. Since you all ain’t going to do shit about this foolishness, I will advocate for myself and shut every goddamn body down”. That is the truth. You all know I’m not too fond of pretense.
I Still Have Some More Growing To Do
I have been working on maturing in areas of my life that are less than impressive. The temptation is to say my shit-taking days are over and call it a day. Well, my shit-taking days are over, but I still strive to handle annoying things better than I used to.
13. Meditation Helps To Increase Self-Love
The practice of mindfulness is helping me to deepen my self-love. And anything that strengthens self-love muscle is a plus, no matter who you are. It’s not that I did not love myself. I did. But I needed to strengthen that love and self-admiration. (That is another topic I will discuss in a later post).
But don’t focus on me. You got some stuff with you, too.
Don’t Judge Me. You Got Some Stuff With You Too!
First, Let Me Humor You
Recently, I saw this quote:
Just because I meditate does not mean I won’t slap the piss out of you! – Anonymous
That’s funny as HECK!!
Yes, I practice mindfulness, but it does not mean I will never lose my temper or the proper perspective. Growth takes time. I am not proud of it, but I use it as another example of a personal pain-body. Again, I would put myself on blast rather than talk about you.
In reality, the more we practice mindfulness meditation, the less we feel like slapping the piss out of somebody. But I just wanted to take a minute to have fun with that quote.
14. I Don’t Believe Everything Is About a Pain-Body
So, right here, I break with Eckhart. To me, not everything results from a personal pain-body. Sometimes, people do shit that gives you good reason to want to slap them. You might think that only a person with an active pain body would want to slap somebody. Okay, I can accept that. But I also accept that sometimes I have to be okay with being human.
Let Mindfulness Help Your Commitment To Grow
Growth comes with commitment and time. Mindfulness can give you that 10 seconds you will need to rethink your response to stupid shit. The question then is, how willing are we to nurture a growth mindset? I mean, it’s convenient to say, “That’s the way I have been all my life, and I am not trying to change now. So, Whoop! There it is! That shows no interest in growth.
Give It A Try For At Least 30 Days
We have the right to take that stand, but we also have to take all the stress that comes with it. We cannot keep complaining about everything if we are unwilling to deal with our shit. You can try a daily mindfulness practice for 30 days to see if it helps.
15. Mindfulness Helps People With ADHD
Listen. If you did not have ADHD as a child, all the hormonal changes of perimenopause would make you feel like you have it! Trust me. Some men may experience a male version of perimenopause which can make them feel like they have ADHD, too! Now, that is hilarious!
Male or Female: Mindfulness Training Can Help
Whether male or female, I know that practicing mindfulness can help you. It has even helped me focus more when reading long passages or entire books.
I am a lot less distracted by every little flea that flies in front of me. I am also a lot less impulsive with spending. And I don’t overreact as much because I no longer let stuff bother me as I did before.
Don’t let the acronym ADHD scare you. Read the articles from the links below to learn how mindfulness can help with ADHD.
You might be an adult with diagnosed ADHD. You may even have a child or grandchild with ADHD. If you do not have ADHD but feel like you will lose your ever-loving mind, this practice can help you.
Studies Show That Mindfulness Practice Improves ADHD Symptoms.
16. Promising Help For People With Dementia
You may have no reason to consider how regular mindfulness practice can help ADHD. Do I have your attention now? Well, what if I tell you that there are promising studies that show how it can help with dementia? What if it can help with early Alzheimer’s disease? It is worth it to make mindfulness part of your everyday life for that reason, if for no other.
17. It Won’t Contradict Your Christian Beliefs
Some of you might think the practice of mindfulness contradicts your Christian faith. It does not. More than 30 years ago, I rejected Transcendental Meditation because I erroneously thought it opposed my Christian beliefs. I now know that Jesus would have no problem with anything that can improve your wellness.
Mindfulness Can Enhance Your Bible Study and Prayer Time
Mindfulness meditation will improve your focus during bible study and prayer. Additionally, meditation is a cognitive exercise, not a spiritual one.
That said, anything having to do with mental wellness is also spiritual. So, you won’t have to give up your bible study, prayer routine, or anything related to your religion.
A person can be an atheist and still benefit from meditation because it is about strengthening the mind and promoting healing, well-being, and productivity.
In conclusion, my only goal is to support your health and wellness goals. Hence, you can trust that I would not suggest anything that hasn’t first improved my life.
I have gotten good at Mindfulness Meditation. However, I still have much to learn about transcendental meditation, so I am not claiming to know much. Still, I recommend it as an excellent resource for improved health and wellness.
I am sending you divine love and best wishes! Be well out there, everybody!
Related Articles: How Mindfulness Helps In Everyday Life
Post your comments and/or questions in the comments section, below! Or email me: Denise@TalkGumbo.com
Relevant Links: Help For Adults With ADHD Symptoms
