Hello, Mindfulness.

Good day to you all!

I hope the sun is shining and you are having the most wonderful day, wherever in the world you are! However, what if you’re not having the most perfect day – let’s talk about that.

I’ve recently finished eight weeks of work with the lovely young people of the UK, and as we are all aware from local media, anxiety and depression rates are at an all-time high amongst young people. Part of the mental health training we undergo for the programme, we spoke about mindfulness. It was quite an eye opening discussion; learning about the small changes in our mindsets we can make to 180 our moods. It cannot simply fix mental health, but perspectives are so important when dealing with every day life.

When you google the meaning of ‘mindfulness’ Google presents you with two definitions:

1. The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.

   “their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition”.
2. 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, used as a therapeutic technique.

Let’s pull apart the key aspects of this second definition.

• Focus- Mindfulness is not something we do automatically. Due to our social conditioning, and constant neglect for ourselves in a world where we, bafflingly,  “don’t have time” for this or that, focus is something our bodies and mind deserve. Setting aside even ten minutes to focus on ourselves are the baby steps we need towards a more peaceful existence.
• Present moment- I am incredibly guilty of forever worrying about things in the future: “I’m going back to uni soon”, “I want to buy this next payday not now”, “I might not be able to go travelling again until 2019”. My mind doesn’t stop!! However, this makes me unbelievably unhappy, when really my present moments are generally peaceful and happy. On the Echo dots there’s a really nice function where you can tell Alexa three things you want to achieve today, and in the evening three things you were grateful for that day. Whilst I was in counselling this was an incredibly supportive tool, take advantage of it if you have an Echo dot!
• Acknowledge and accept- Acknowledging is the easy part! But what’s its acknowledged you can learn to accept – even if that acceptance is through change. How will you know what adaptions you need to make in your life if you aren’t aware of what’s causing the upset in your life? Take a moment even if it’s just before bed to genuinely consider what is affecting you, how do you feel about that, is there anything you can or would like to do differently.

Mindfulness is a journey, not an end result. What better life could we lead but a peaceful one?! It’s comforting to hear that some high schools are incorporating mindfulness into PSHE lessons, meaning that there is another tactic being used against rising mental health crises. So before I sign of let me leave you with my top five tips:

1. Take a break from technology. Read a book, make something, exercise, be grateful for these things in the world.
2. Go outside.! Being around nature is a nourishing experience for mind and body.
3. List things. List your thoughts, feelings, what you did today – get reflective.
4. Tackle your judgy thoughts. It’s natural, we are all typically judgemental be it others or ourselves. But combat these challenge these negatives with a positive.
5. Notice your breath. This is how your body regulate itself, make sure you’re not breathing too quickly and putting excess strain on yourself, you might thank yourself later in life.