We live in a 24 hour a day news cycle. Email and social media bombard us every minute. We have less time for friends, family, or faith. It’s easy to lose sight of one’s own internal voice with so much external noise going on.
Mindfulness and meditation are increasingly popular because they help people who are deluged with modern life. Mindfulness can contribute to an individual’s serenity, health, and effectiveness.
Do you want to feel less stressed? Do you want to get back in tune with yourself and the universe? Do you want to live a longer, healthier life?
If you say yes to these questions, you are ready to read this brief introduction to mindfulness.
1. Improved Physical Health
There are myriad physical benefits to practicing mindfulness. They include better sleep, lower blood pressure, improved cardiac conditioning, reduced pain, and less digestive distress.
The practice of calming your breathing and racing mind once a day can have a positive impact on your body. By focusing on the present in a conscious manner, you lower the level of cortisol in your body. Cortisol is the stress hormone!
By lowering one’s cortisol, you become less prone to stress-related diseases like migraines, hypertension, ulcers, and depression.
Mindfulness enhances serotonin levels. Serotonin is a chemical produced in nerve cells that works as a natural mood stabilizer.
Mindfulness also may help with chronic pain, cognitive decline, and your immune system. It helps people with arthritis, PMS, and disordered eating. It can even help heat up your sex life!
2. Reduced Stress
You can practice mindfulness by meditation, or through other soothing, conscious practices like yoga. Mindfulness brings you into your body. It allows you to focus on your senses and feelings without judgment or action.
Many people first approach mindfulness because they are overwhelmed by the stress in their lives. Mindfulness encourages you to sit still. It lets you experience what you are feeling without immediately reacting or “doing something.”
When you practice mindfulness, you actually calm the area of your brain which triggers the stress response: the amygdala. You become aware of your feelings of stress. It lets you see how stress affects you, and then it gives you the time and serenity to find solutions.
Often people feel less stressed their first time practicing mindfulness. Continued practice creates more calmness, making it easier to attain when you really need it.
3. Depression
We seem to be in an epidemic of depression in the 21st century. 40% of patients who see a psychiatrist are diagnosed with depression, and that rate has doubled in the past two decades.
Some people think this is because of a wider knowledge about this disease, or a corporate push to prescribe pharmaceuticals. Others see a spiritual bankruptcy among the population. Whatever the reason may be, depression is a real issue that causes people real pain.
Mindfulness is a proven supplemental treatment for depression. It decreases depressive symptoms by helping people regulate their emotions. It helps them step back from what they feel, identify what is going on, and accept the feelings instead of fighting them.
Mindfulness even helps with the most intense manifestations of depression, like suicidal thoughts.
If you feel despair, you might want to discover more about mindfulness. Learning this practice can lift you out of those feelings and propel you towards a happier life.
4. Faster Recovery
For people suffering from an injury or illness, meditation and mindfulness can help accelerate recovery.
Scientists studied injured athletes to see the effect of meditation on their healing. They discovered that athletes who practiced mindfulness once a week for two months experienced therapeutic benefits.”Mindfulness Stress Reduction” helped increase their tolerance to pain and helped them heal faster than those who did not meditate.
For people recovering from alcohol or drug abuse, mindfulness is also effective. Once someone detoxes from an addictive substance, they remember all the reasons why they turned to drinking or drugging in the first place. Mindfulness allows them to calm their minds and resist the urge to use.
Mindfulness may even help prevent alcoholism. Studies of college students found that those who practiced mindfulness were less likely to experience depression stemming from the use of alcohol. They were less likely to engage in problem drinking, too.
Mindfulness is used in programs for recovering addicts. A practice of meditation can help prevent relapse by providing awareness of urges and triggers and providing ways to cope with feelings of discomfort without acting on them.
5. More Effective Focus
When you start to meditate regularly, you will find that your life improves in many ways, including professionally.
Mindfulness actually retrains your brain to be more effective. It boosts concentration. It makes you more aware of the day-to-day, adding balance and focus. These help your productivity.
Many people notice that mindfulness unlocks their creativity, They become better at problem-solving because they are calmer. These qualities all help in the work environment.
You will find your memory is better, and you are less prone to burnout. You will find you make better decisions because you have more patience. It can also boost your self-esteem.
People’s confidence gets better when they practice mindfulness because it quiets negative thoughts.
It also helps them find a sense of purpose. Many people ultimately move up in their career, or change jobs entirely as they tap into their inner desires and find what will truly make them happy.
Is it Time for Your Introduction to Mindfulness?
Do you feel stressed, unhealthy, and unhappy? Are you looking for a way towards more satisfaction but you do not know where to turn?
You may be ready for your introduction to mindfulness.
Mindfulness and meditation are proven methods for improving your life. By learning how to sit quietly with yourself and calming your brain, you will discover a whole new world of contentment and serenity. Your physical aches and pains will melt away as your body and your mind learn the keys to true happiness.
Keep checking back here for more great ways to improve your life.