How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life
Last week you learned what mindfulness is, so this week I want to talk about what mindfulness is not.As I mentioned in part one, mindfulness is a fundamental component of my Concierge Wellness program and also one of the most popular workshop topics for my Corporate Wellness clients. Click here to book a Corporate Wellness workshop.So what does not being mindful look like?
- • Allowing distractions to gain your attention while having a conversation
- • Multitasking
- • Worrying about the past and/or future
Let me give you one of my favorite examples of how mindfulness, or lack thereof, can change your life…Take a conversation with your friend, partner, colleague. Right now, many of them are over the phone, yet imagine this one is in person and neither of you are masked. You are able to see the other person’s full face.Imagine this person is telling you a story about something that is really not all that important to you, yet it is to them. Say, they are upset about something another friend “did” to them.As you listen, you notice other things around you, you feel your phone buzz that someone has texted, and you are feeling distracted, even not listening that closely anymore losing parts of their story.When you leave the conversation, the person leaves frustrated, and you leave not really understanding what the big deal is. What was the point of even being in the conversation?This is an example of how your lack of mindfulness, although unintentional, can negatively affect your relationships.Let’s take another example. Say you are stressed at work and are working on four different projects, trying to schedule your daughter's long-awaited orthodontist appointment, and sending texts to a buddy about the latest IG feed from some fitness star. 
Do you think all of those activities will be completed to the best of your abilities? Probably not. If you are multitasking, you are not being mindful. Being mindful means being present to that one task, that one conversation or that one project, and not interrupted repeatedly by other texts, emails or “noise.” Present to yourself and present to others around you. It means remaining in the moment and focusing on one thing, not focusing on the past or the future…just the now.Here is another example of how your lack of mindfulness can increase your stress and prevent you from living a joyful and fulfilling life.It’s a nice and sunny day so you decide to take a break to get some fresh air and go on a walk, yet instead of noticing the many beautiful things around you – flowers blooming, birds chirping – you begin checking email on your phone and worry about deadlines or what somebody said about something. You get home from your walk and feel more stressed than you did when you left.You may still be wondering how your lack of mindfulness can hinder your ability to lose weight. You can:
- • Be distracted eating/eating on the go
- • Eat when you aren’t really hungry
- • Not address your stress (the time you spent worrying about your upcoming deadlines could have been spent on a 5-minute flow or prepping your meals for the day.)
- • Therefore, your sleep is not good…
- • Making you hungrier the following day…
- • And, worst of all, feel “you’ll never achieve what you want from your wellness so you don’t try.
Our inability to be fully present is negatively affecting our ability to achieve that fit body and true wellness that we so desperately want. It’s essential.Next week in part three I will share the many research based benefits of incorporating mindfulness into your daily life. If you’re interested in my concierge program and how you can develop your own mindfulness practice, click here for a free 30-minute consult. If you’d like to book a Mindfulness Corporate Wellness workshop for your staff, click here.
