BE MINDFUL IN MAY

Do you run from this to that, doing many things at once and feel exhausted?

If you answered yes to both of these questions then you are one of many who are occupied in getting everything done now and worrying about what’s next. The result is that you may well not be in the moment.

Mindfulness is a mental “state” that is achieved by focussing on one’s own awareness of that particular moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting your own feelings and thoughts.
Clearing your conscious mind through meditation, hypnosis or just simply stopping what you are doing are all simple actions that can reduce your stress. That’s right it’s a simple way of paying attention that can help with how you cope with tough times.

Mindfulness is about training yourself to pay attention in a specific way. Some of us who practice mindfulness will do some or all of the following:

• Focus on the present moment
• Try not to think about anything that happened in the past
• Avoid anticipation of the future
• Purposefully concentrate on what is happening around them
• Try to not be judgemental about what they do notice

Overthinking is becoming a pandemic that leads to depression, couple over thinking with a lack of sleep and a fear of future, such as financial, what you think others think and you have a potent cocktail for illness and an unhappy way of being.

So to improve your focus and concentration, increase your self-awareness (emotional intelligence) and be in charge of your thoughts and state. Learn the practice of Mindfulness, Buddhists have been practising Mindfulness for centuries and only now is Western society taking notice of being Mindful.
Sometimes Mindfulness and Awareness are talked about as if they were interchangeable terms, but that’s not a great habit to get into. You may be aware that you are grumpy but that would not mean that you are being Mindful of your grumpiness. In order to be Mindful you need to be purposefully aware of yourself, not just vaguely and habitually aware. Knowing that you are eating is not the same as eating Mindfully.

Mindfulness at work means not doing small bits of many things at one time. Have you like many of us continued to type while talking on the phone? Maybe you tried to talk to someone who has come to your desk as well as talk on the phone and type that email?

Have you seen people driving and doing other things such as using their phone, putting on makeup maybe even talking to the passengers in the back seat? These people are not in the moment of driving.
You know we may think that we are good at multi-tasking doing several things at once, we maybe completing tasks yet have we really experienced the really wonderful components of being able to do the task and having the sensors that come with doing those tasks.

Annette Gillanders
Teacher Inspirator Coach

Douglas Gillanders
Educator, Mediator, Coach

Biznorth – the hive of business knowledge
P 8947 0409
www.biznorth.com.au