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Mindfulness ‘is kind of a superpower’ 

Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff all have something in common besides being successful billionaires. They all practice mindfulness / meditation, and credit it as a tool for their success.

Research tends to back up the buzz: A 2018 study in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology found that daily mindfulness training, like meditation, can improve productivity, job satisfaction, work-life balance, and reduce stress.

“Mindfulness allows you to experience your life in the present without ruminating about what just happened, what should have happened, what almost happened,” says neuroscientist Sam Harris, a New York Times bestselling author, the host of the Making Sense podcast, and the creator of the Waking Up meditation course for beginners. “It is the ability to pay attention to what actually matters.”

Mindfulness is the practice of deliberately bringing your attention to something in the present moment.

Thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, or something in the surrounding environment are all things that can be included in Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is noticing these things without judgement – they are neither good nor bad.

Mindfulness helps you to become aware of your thoughts, feelings and sensations. Being aware of these as you experience them helps you to meet your own needs, such as when you might need a break or need to get some exercise.

Mindfulness can also help you to become more aware of other people and their experiences, needs and emotions.

Mindfulness has been credited as helping to ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as helping reduce stress and improve memory and concentration.

If you haven’t practiced mindfulness before, now is a great time to start.

 

To explore mindfulness and its benefits, you can take a look at the following websites:

If you want to learn more about the benefits of mindfulness, Harvard Health (USA) has some useful information. They also explore some handy mindfulness techniques.

A Māori perspective on mindfulness, this resource is a great source of information on how mindfulness enhances the connection to Te Ao Wairua (the spiritual world) and Te Ao Turoa (the natural world).

Mindfulness Month is a collaboration between the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and The Kindness Institute. For the 31 days of August, Mindfulness Month aims to help people focus on Mindfulness and raise funds to help promote better support for the mental health system in New Zealand.

What is mindfulness is a great FAQ of mindfulness.  You can learn about the benefits of mindfulness and who mindfulness is good for.

 

There are also some great apps you can use to help you with practicing mindfulness:

Smiling Mind App has a number of modules or sessions designed to be worked through over a period of time. Each session has a video or audio track that gives the user details of the lesson, activity or meditation to undertake

If meditation is your way to practice mindfulness, Buddhify App will be your best friend. It provides over 200 audio tracks of guided meditations for use in many different situations and environments.