Mindfulness

“The awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the current moment, non-judgementally” - Jon Kabat-Zinn

Much of the stress we experience in our lives stems from the reactive nature of our thinking, with one thought leading to another and another, until we can have forgotten where it was that we started from. We can very quickly be caught up in patterns of thought that lead us into automatic patterns of behaviour that we frequently experience as being very stressful. Mindfulness helps us to cultivate the capacity to be present in the moment, not thinking about things in the past, or caught up looking forward to or worrying about things yet to come.

Whether it’s allowing ourselves to be fully aware of the sensation of water running over our hands and between our fingers as we wash our hands, or noticing the arising and fading away of thoughts, not getting caught up with them, but simply noticing, mindfulness gives us access to greater awareness. With awareness then comes the ability to see things closer to how they really are, and then the freedom to choose how next to act. As such it builds our resilience and our capacity to fully engage with life in a positive and meaningful way.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”  Viktor Frankl – “Man’s Search for Meaning”

See some video clips that will help you get a better sense of what Mindfulness is and how it can bring a wide array of benefits.