Mindfulness is a simplified form of meditation. Although it is often dressed-up to seem mysterious, it is simply uses your human ability to become fully aware of your experience, as it happens.

You do this all the time in various ways already. Learning to deliberately practise mindfulness just means you take control of one of the most powerful aspects our minds have – the ability to focus attention. Use it intentionally to feel good about yourself and free yourself from intrusive and unhelpful thoughts.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it”, they say. So here’s an opportunity to try mindfulness without having to commit a lot of time or money to something that is new to you

It can help you understand and control your moods and emotions, rather being overwhelmed by them, and remain calmer, more productive, and clear-headed.

Regular mindfulness practice takes only a fraction of your time. Starting with just 10 minutes a day you can develop your natural abilities into life-enhancing habits.

When you practise mindfulness

When you practise mindfulness you become more fully aware of the present moment, in a non-judgmental way, rather than being preoccupied with intrusive thoughts, worries and concerns. It involves using some simple techniques to focus your attention and heighten awareness of your senses (for example, really noticing your breathing, feeling the sensations of your body), and being ‘in the now’.

Mindfulness has origins in Eastern philosophy and Buddhism. It has been used in the West as a means of personal development for many years, and is now being increasingly taken up in education and professional development, as a stress management technique, and for its psychological benefits in therapy and personal performance.

Mindfulness is developed through daily living. Any practice which helps to calm your inner thoughts,
silence your inner voice, and focus on the present moment can be used to develop mindfulness.
Here are four exercises to start: Download my free Mindfulness Exercises

If you’d like some clear instruction to lead you gracefully into practising mindfulness, then here’s a great, free offer. With my mindfulness quick start video course you will experience Mindfulness in 3 lessons: An Introduction to Mindfulness.

Life-changing

Making mindfulness part of your life can be, quite literally, life-changing. You’ll develop new habits of thinking and new ways of being as a result of your practice. The more you are present in the moment, approaching things non-judgementally, in an open-minded way, the more you’ll begin to notice the world around you, and your own inner world.

This is where you’ll really start to notice that you think and feel differently, and that new horizons are appearing. For example, thinking with more clarity, worrying less, even developing new ambitions!