The word mindful didn’t always carry much weight with me. But a recent conversation helped me better understand what it means, and set me on a journey to actively pursue mindfulness.
I thought mindfulness was about caring, putting others before yourself, and just being an all-around nice guy. You know, being mindful of others. Then I came across a definition and it changed my perception of those words completely:
Mindfulness is the intentional, accepting and non-judgmental focus of one’s attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment, which can be trained by meditational practices that are described in detail in the Buddhist tradition.
Wait…meditation…Buddist tradition? I wasn’t expecting those things, and after more reading and understanding my perception of being mindful changed. I also began reading more into meditation and its benefits, and specifically those of mindful meditation.
Headspace.com sums up the benefits well:
For thousands of years, meditators have claimed many benefits for their practice. Our experience, and that of Headspace members, suggests that regular mindfulness practice, through meditation, is an effective treatment for stress, worry, lack of focus, relationship problems, addictions and more. It leads to peace of mind and wellbeing, greater focus and creativity and better relationships.
Headspace kept it short and simple, so I decided to install their app and try out their Take 10 series. Plus their “How it Works” video is pretty great.
[vimeo id=”90758138″]
I’ll admit I haven’t kept with it as much as I would like to, so when I was asked to come up with this week’s theme, I saw an opportunity.
A challenge
This week I’m offering up a challenge to go along with the theme Be Mindful. Head over to Headspace and grab an account and their app for your device. Take this week to practice being mindful, and try the first five Take 10 lessons from Headspace. I’m going to start a follow-up post and grab quick notes from people around our office to see how they this worked for them.
If you aren’t an SfGer and want to share your input, feel free to Tweet at me or contact us. I’d love to share your results in my follow-up post.