I think of mindfulness as made up of present moment awareness and acceptance of realities.

One: The awareness part

The awareness part isn't necessarily about meditating on your breath for twenty minutes (though that’s a way to do it). It's about returning your attention to what's going on in the moment, bringing it back again and again.

This could mean returning your attention to sounds around you, to what's happening in the space you’re in, to what you're doing physically, to listening to another person’s voice for instance.

You can return your attention to many things. These could, of course, include your breathing. Your breathing is always with you and it’s free.

Why do it?

Why would you practise mindfulness? You might do it because it gives you refuge from the incessant chatter of thoughts in your head, and that can be a great relief. Or you might do it because the practice of mindfulness lowers your stress levels and your reactivity so that you're better able to make choices about how you respond.

Two: Acknowledging realities

But what about acceptance? Mindful acceptance is acknowledging the reality of what is, even of what was, without stressing yourself out by having dramas in your mind about it. This kind of mental drama sometimes does more to stress us out than the things themselves, especially when those things are over.

Acceptance doesn't mean you give in or surrender. It means accepting the reality of what is, and moving forward from there.

Morning Mindfulness event

Join me at 8am on Friday 21st November for a 45-minute event on Zoom where we'll do simple mindfulness exercises, explore these ideas further, and include a visualisation. The session will be recorded and all who book will receive links to the video and audio recordings as well as notes. Payment is by donation - the link below will bring you to the ticketing page where you will be invited to donate €35, €25 or what you think is fair (Click “Get tickets’ on Eventbrite for that third option).