The Benefits of Mindfulness: Warrior Mind Podcast #403
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this is the Warrior Mind Podcast.
In this episode of the Warrior Mind Podcast I’m going to discuss the importance and benefits of mindfulness for persona growth and life satisfaction.
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The Benefits of Mindfulness
Before we delve into the benefits of mindfulness, we must first understand its meaning. Mindfulness is simply being aware of your current environment and circumstance.
The idea of mindfulness initially originated from the Buddhist and can be explained in several ways today. For instance, your mindset or the choice of mental attitude you choose to adopt to serve as a sort of guideline to guard one’s present state of consciousness.
Humans are usually guided by thoughts and our thoughts could either be futuristic, abstract or based on history.
To be mindful require you being focused on the present, it helps to alleviate worries and relegates regrets to the past especially in scenarios where we place too much emphasis on it.
There have been many discussions about the benefits of mindfulness as a treatment of illness such as depression, anxiety, stress and chronic pains.
That said, achieving a state of mindfulness isn’t as simple as it sounds. It requires constant practice to attain a level of effectiveness.
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Enjoy this podcast on mindfulness
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The story of modern-day mindfulness
During his time as a molecular biologist student, Jon Kabat-Zinn was introduced to Buddhism, and it pricked his consciousness that the idea of mindfulness can be used to reduce stress significantly. This led him to develop a course at the University of Massachusetts known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). He attained global recognition after the release of his book titled; Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness which was published in 1991.
How do I attain Mindfulness?
You might decide to be mindful on a regular basis by paying constant attention to the task at hand; in addition, mindfulness also involves paying attention to the current task with the certain level of curiosity, willingness, and acceptance. This allows you to live your current experience without being distracted.
Mindfulness is most effective when one’s mental focus is at its peak, meaning the mind is completely focused on the task at hand. This is usually referred to as mediation.
Being fully aware of the task at hand is easy to accomplish, all that is required is to pay attention to a specific part of it.
Breathing exercises are known to be a very important part of mindful meditation. This is because your mind is always focused on the task at hand with enough bodily motion to keep you interested.
On the other hand, some people tend to prefer repeating silent phrases regularly, or in some cases easy body movements that occur rhythmically with the aid of instructions from a teacher or an audio tape. There tons of guided meditations available on the internet and on apps which are easily accessible for download.
Now we have a fairly good idea of mindfulness, let’s take a brief look at its benefits.
How can we benefit from mindfulness?
The physical and mental state derived from mindfulness can be beneficial in the treatment of several medical illnesses, as stress is a common factor in most diseases from bipolar disorder to heart diseases.
Mindfulness is also beneficial to those who are not necessarily sick but feel the need to live a healthier and happier life.
Two specific conditions usually come to mind when talking about mindfulness.
- Chronic Pain
People got used to chronic pain because their body system got accustomed to the pain after the initial painful experience.
When they eventually get healed physically, their brain has become so used to the pain that they require a lot of persuasions to let them feel perfectly alright.
To reformat their mindset, they need to be kept within their limits while gradually increasing the level of activity. It also makes a lot of sense to place little stress on the body, so the brain can stop being scared of certain points.
Being mindful means the person who is suffering from pain is fully away from the pain, he acknowledges it, instead of fretting over the pain not doing a thing about it down the line.
Mindfulness also involves knowing when to take a break and relax so not to put too much strain on the body thereby minimizing the risk of a repeat occurrence. This is not so easy as said because programs that tackle chronic pains do not necessarily lead to a complete alleviation of the pain.
That said, making use of techniques that involve mindfulness result in patients enjoying a happier and better life.
You can put this into practice by taking a little breathing exercise, breathe in and out for a few minutes and notice the difference between you.
- Depression
Depression leads to negative thoughts and gets us feeling moody. We tend to feel bad and not so good about ourselves. Our reaction to events around us just seem to aggravate the situation. Everything around us just goes into a tailspin; it is even worse for those who haven’t experienced depression before in their lives. It is usually difficult for someone who is depressed to cheer up, neither can he view things in with the same perspective as you do.
Mindfulness can go a long way to stop the increase of negative thoughts and mindset usually associated with depression. It helps us to focus on the present and enjoy the moment rather than fretting over the past or worrying too much about the future.
Mindfulness can give us another perspective on life; we can enjoy life without judgment. We realize that we don’t feel too good about ourselves, we accept the fact instead of trying to fight it or let it affect our mood.
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