Hello and welcome,
And today's word is mindfulness.
Such an important word and we hear about it more and more,
Do we not?
Not just for our general lives,
But we're seeing it much more now also in business as a strategy for helping leaders and managers and all employees actually cope better with the stresses of life and the speed of change.
How often do you find yourself rushing through life,
Thinking about the next task,
The next problem or the next goal or the next holiday,
Without fully experiencing the present moment?
Mindfulness is really all about the practice of being fully present.
Be aware of your thoughts and your emotions and your surroundings without any judgment at all.
In fact,
I like to think about the thoughts in my mind just moving through my mind like clouds on a summer day.
I love that image and certainly when it comes to negative thoughts,
Why on earth would I want to hold on to those and pin them down?
Let's just watch them move on.
So it's really about living in the now and living consciously in the best way we possibly can,
Whatever that means for us,
Rather than being stuck in regrets about the past or worries about the future.
Let's just enjoy now because that's the only moment we really have and when we're mindful,
We become calmer,
More focused and interestingly,
More joy-filled.
Not because we're bringing joy in,
The joy is in us anyway,
But it actually finds space to move through us and out of us and all around us.
That's something wonderful.
We appreciate life much more deeply when we are in the present moment and I find myself laughing more.
That's a great gift to give myself.
So perhaps ask yourself today,
How often are you truly present in your life?
When you're cooking,
When you're driving,
When you're working,
When you're playing with the children,
When you're talking to your partner,
When you're in the shower,
When you're moving around the home,
Going shopping,
Are you truly present?
Are you enjoying that moment of life which is such a gift?
And what small moments do you perhaps rush past without noticing them at all?
So the teachings of mindfulness trace back to Buddhism,
Where meditation and present moment awareness were seen as paths to enlightenment.
And mindfulness was never just about sitting still,
Which is often an image that we have,
Is it not?
It was really about living with full awareness in everything we do.
So our lives didn't necessarily stop when we took on this practice.
We didn't have to go into a monastery to do this.
It was something we brought into every moment of every day and every action.
John Kabat-Zinn,
Pioneer in modern mindfulness research,
He founded mindfulness-based stress reduction,
MBSR.
He created a program there that has helped millions reduce anxiety,
Depression and chronic pain through mindfulness practices.
So that could be a really interesting one to look into if this is an area that fascinates you.
Now,
Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness for just 10 minutes a day reduces stress and enhances focus and improves overall well-being and happiness.
And brain scans of meditators reveal increased brain matter in areas linked to memory,
Emotion regulation and learning.
And that's,
Of course,
A very big positive,
Especially as we're hearing more and more in the news and in the media about dementia and Alzheimer's.
So I've got three suggestions for today,
As always.
The first one is to start practicing the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise.
This is so,
So simple.
Notice five things that you see,
Four things that you feel,
Three things that you hear,
Two things that you smell and one thing that you taste.
And this brings you instantly into the present moment.
It can also be very useful if somebody's having a panic attack.
It brings them back into the present moment.
So practice that just for your presence today.
It doesn't take long.
Number two,
I encourage you just for today,
Perhaps,
To eat really mindfully and see how that feels and continue to have it if you can.
Slow down your eating.
Savor each bite.
Feel gratitude for all the people involved in bringing that food to your plate,
From the person who perhaps sowed the seed of that one grain of rice to all the people involved in harvesting and packing and driving the lorries and so on.
Pay attention to flavors and textures rather than eating on autopilot.
And number three is to breathe with awareness,
Breathing ideally deep into your diaphragm,
Holding perhaps for a few seconds and then releasing.
Set reminders on your phone to take deep intentional breaths throughout the day.
Even one mindful breath can shift your state.
And today we end on a quotation by Mother Teresa,
Be happy in the moment,
That's enough.
Each moment is all we need.
No more.
