“Mindful” is such a buzz word today…I’ve even seen it used in relation to how you clean your new engineered hardwood flooring!!

But seriously…Especially with the situation of Covid, we absolutely need to be intentional and aware of what we are doing –at all times. Our lives and health may depend on it.

There are many different definitions of what Mindfulness is.

Mine is: Mindfulness is being aware of, and fully engaged in, what is happening in your moment-to-moment experience, without judging or trying to change it.

Or…as one grade 5 student in a school mindfulness pilot program put it:
“Mindfulness means not hitting someone in the mouth.”

Mindfulness is not a “state” but a way of Being. It is about being in touch with yourself. Knowing what’s happening in your experience, knowing how you feel about it and ultimately choosing to relate to it with a wise Response as opposed to a knee-jerk, often unhelpful, Reaction.

Practicing Mindfulness is about cultivating a balanced relationship with what’s going on in your life.

Why should you do that? Because when you are constantly overwhelmed by what’s happening in your experience, or burnt out by trying to control it all, it creates a lot of unnecessary stress, which affects your mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Life is, inherently, full of joys and challenges and Mindfulness helps you be with it all, in a kind, non-judgmental way.

Meditation teacher, Jon Kabat-Zinn describes life as a turbulent ocean where:

You can’t stop the waves ~ but you can learn to surf.

Through Mindfulness, we learn a new way to navigate our life: with Wisdom, Compassion and Equanimity.