Living Mindfully

I remember the first time I talked with a counsellor about living mindfully.  The example they used was asking me to hold white piece of paper in front of my nose and asked what I could see.  All I could see was the white paper of course.  Next, they asked me to gradually move the paper further away from my face and asked be what I could see.  The paper went from being the only thing I could see to being a piece of paper in the room.  I could see everything around it and where it was situated in the environment.

Mindfulness techniques can help all of us live in the moment and see things as they are without becoming our only focus and without judgement.  Living in the moment helps us stay grounded, can reduce anxiety, help us manage our thoughts, and live a balanced life.

Being mindful and living mindfully does not need to complicated.  Mindfulness is paying attention to what is happening within our environment and being aware about how we feel or think about it in the moment.  Mindfulness can help us change how we see the world around us.

An easy way to start being mindful is paying attention to what is going on around us.  Using our 5 senses can help us pay attention to the environment and be in the moment.  Asking ourselves what we hear, see, smell, taste, and touch brings us into our environment, or into the moment, without judgement or labeling anything.  We can be mindful or pay attention to our surroundings when we go for a walk, spend time in the backyard, or during a workout.  Mindful practice helps us redirect our thoughts when we become overwhelmed or anxious.

Living mindfully is a practice we can do every day.  We don’t need to be perfect at it and it does not need to be complicated.

Written by: Bren Schock, Social Worker with Wildflowers