Awareness Matters

April 10th, 2016   •   Comments Off on Awareness Matters   

Fundamentally, mindfulness is being aware of our thoughts. I invest time explaining what it is, why it’s valuable, and how to develop it.

Learning a different reaction to a repeating pattern is the solution for many problems. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. Do something different — much easier said than done.

If we want to change how we react, awareness of our thoughts and feelings matter. Under-thinking, impulsivity, or over-thinking, rumination, are opposite ends of the same spectrum. The most important thing we can do is slow down.

I enjoyed this recent article in the Washington Post, Why I’m teaching my 6-year-old to meditate. While meditation is similar to mindfulness, meditation brings focus to a thought while mindfulness brings awareness to our thinking.

Wait a minute. What? This is where describing a simple process quickly slips into the complexity of psycho-babble. It’s a practice because it’s simple but it’s not easy.

Of the many available apps, I’m most familiar with Headspace.

Simply said, mindfulness can help.