Mindfulness is minding your own business
Mindfulness became such a widely recognized term for the past few years (a bit overused recently and maybe even misunderstood). In short, it means – being aware of the present moment; to put it mildly – slow down and look around.
There is the whole movement based on this term. People started practicing “slow living,” put technology on the side more often, pay attention to what they do, what they eat, who do they spend time with, move their body and meditate to calm their mind down. They started coming back to the roots, to the state before technology took over our minds.
To be mindful, you don’t have to do yoga, meditation, or other spiritual practices right away (those are the things usually associated with mindfulness). It’s more about the appreciation of this very moment that you have right now. You don’t have to be spiritual to feel grateful and appreciative for what you have. The name explains itself – your mind has to be full, but with the right things. And that only happens if you start paying attention to it.
As Pam Denton, my mentor put it – mindfulness is just minding your own business. And that’s my favorite definition. Mindfulness became a massive part of my life. I’ve built my 8-week program based on self-awareness and self-care – two essential pillars of that movement. I’ve become acutely aware of who I am and what’s going on around me. I pay attention, don’t spend too much time on social media (just because I post things, it doesn’t mean I scroll down a lot), and also do the stuff I love – the things I used to do more often, but because of the pace of my life, I stopped doing. I read more, I discover new music, I go for long walks, I enjoy sitting in a park and drinking coffee, I cook again. I also light the candle in the evening and meditate, acknowledge people around me, don’t eat crap, surround myself with positive people, pay attention to my breathing, listen to my intuition, and I’m present.
I do believe that we all need to slow down and start paying attention to what’s around us. We rush so much, we chase the future, or are stuck in the past, instead of being aware of today. It’s not that “the best days are gone” or “the best is yet to come”; maybe you had better days, perhaps there is something better waiting for you in the future, but that doesn’t mean that what you have right now is not worth your attention and affection.
I want to encourage you to pause for a bit, sit down this evening and think of what’s missing in your life right now. What did you stop doing? Why did you stop it? What do you want to come back to? Look at your routine; does your routine became your life? Do you even see what’s around you, besides that routine? Can you slow down? Be more mindful of what you do daily. Reflect on that, make a list of things that make you happier and more present. And do them daily. That’s the whole idea of mindfulness – mind your business daily, not just occasionally when you feel like drowning. Start swimming before you drown.
