Mindfulness

Mindfulness – A Process of Becoming Awake and Aware

In practicing mindfulness we open the senses. We become intentionally aware of what is going on – both inside the body/heart/mind – and beyond. Mindfulness invites us to bring attention to the many small activities of our daily life.

As we begin to wake up, we notice how many hours and days we’ve trapped ourselves in outer circumstances of our lives.  How often we’ve found ourselves sleepwalking through our days discontented, restless, homesick. On our path of recovery begin to ask ourselves, how is that I can be more content, drawing on my own strength, courage, and determination? How can I stay awake in the midst of both pleasant and unpleasant sensations?

Moment to Moment Awareness – Simple But Not Easy

Moment to moment awareness is simple, but not necessarily easy. Mindfulness helps us stay present with experiences that aren’t pleasant.  Our usual tendency is to try to arrange the world and other people so that we feel safe, secure, and satiated. We spend a lot of energy trying to arrange people, places and things to suit us. Life doesn’t cooperate according to our plans.

The Benefits of Mindfulness in Addiction Recovery – Relieving Fear

If we are able to stay present, open, and willing to welcome unpleasant experiences and thoughts, they lose their power over us. We no longer need to freeze, flee or fight. When curve balls come at us, we are ready to receive and respond.  We are receptive to what is being given to us, moment by moment.

When we become aware of the stories we tell ourselves that we believe to be true, we can see the trance of fear and projection that can fuel addiction of all kinds.

The Benefits of Mindfulness – Managing Anxiety

Anxiety is fueled by thoughts of both the past and the future.  When we question those thoughts and allow them to drop us, we find ourselves no longer caught in our story. Rather, we’re able to see, however fleetingly, our right place in the world. We see how we’re all connected. We all belong.

The Benefits of Mindfulness – Empowering Ourselves

With this awareness, we gain amazing power. We discover our own resourcefulness, courage and ability to be at peace, despite people, places and things that make us feel uncomfortable.

When we are mindful, we appreciate each moment of the particular life we have been given. It is a practice of gratitude. It is the path toward freedom, joy, and peace. Indeed toward wholeness in body, mind, and spirit.

The Benefits of Mindfulness – Healing Ourselves

When we practice mindfulness, we equip ourselves with holistic tools that help us navigate life’s changes and chances. We’re able to practice acceptance of the moment, no matter what the circumstances. We’re able to accept ourselves, and others, exactly as we and they are in the moment. Life is difficult. And yet, with mindfulness, we’re able to loosen our grip on it, so that we are more capable of flowing with the river, rather than continually fighting upstream.

When we can flow with the river of life, we are less victimized by our circumstances. We’re more equipped to take responsibility for ourselves. And, we can begin to take baby steps toward our own health and wellbeing.

We begin to yearn for wholeness in body, mind, and spirit. The body yearns for health. For increased energy, strength, and immunity. With a growing sense of awareness, we’re willing to feed the body with healthy, fresh, life-giving foods. With renewed energy, we become willing to exercise in ways that heal and nurture the body. Moving the body with intention, in turn, encourages to eat mindfully (so that food becomes our fuel). parens are for nutrition. delete parens after you create link. thank you!

with these practices, gradually and gracefully, we begin to wake up, see and embrace the miracle of our aliveness.

Key Strategy for Mindfulness – Meditation

We can’t make moments of spontaneous awakening occur. But even so, we can find our way to the strategy that underlies the practice of mindfulness. It is meditation.

Meditation is a practice whereby we freely choose to assume an inner stance that offers the least resistance to our awareness of the graced awakenings we are powerless to attain.

As we cultivate the habit of receptive openness in daily meditation, a more habitual meditative awareness becomes our way of experiencing our day-by-day lives. As we sit in meditation, being as sincere and attentive as we can be, we realize, little by little or all at once, that we are immersed in the mystery that has awakened us and is drawing us into our truest nature.