Mindfulness

Mindfulness is simply… noticing what is happening right now.

Mindfulness is taking notice of how your body feels and what you see, smell and taste. Maybe you even feel emotions in your body, perhaps through a tightness somewhere, or a good sensation.

Mindfulness is also noticing what your mind is doing.

What happens when you start noticing these experiences?

When you notice what is happening around you, you focus more deeply, and that attention to your own senses will help you improve in diverse areas of your life.

Improved focus can help you achieve at higher levels in sports, school or music. It will help you score higher on tests, too. We always do better when we’re able to pay attention to what we’re doing, right?

But there’s more…

When you notice what is happening around you, it can help you to calm down when you’re sad, angry or frustrated. Mindfulness helps you deal with tough emotions, and mindfulness can make you happy and feel good.

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF MINDFULNESS PRACTICE ?

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” – Victor Frankl

Mindfulness helps us sustain our awareness more often and for longer periods. We can begin to practice mindfulness by adding many brief moments of awareness into our lives on a daily basis.

This awareness comes with lots of benefits.

Here are some of the good things mindfulness can bring to yours and your students life:

  • Mindfulness helps us create space between the emotions we have and the actions we use to respond to them.
  • Mindfulness helps us focus.
  • Mindfulness can make us feel better emotionally and physically.

If you need studies as proof to practice mindfulness, you’re in luck: thousands of studies have documented the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness. Benefits such as;

  • decreased stress and anxiety,
  • improved health,
  • better sleep,
  • improved focus and awareness,
  • better problem solving,
  • improved impulse control,
  • increased compassion and kindness,
  • stronger relationships,
  • altruism,
  • and even higher life satisfaction.

That’s an impressive list! :) Did you know that studies have shown that practicing mindfulness, even for just a few weeks, can bring a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits?

With mindfulness, we can change our relationships with our emotions, thoughts and negative self-talk.

We don’t have to believe every thought we have, or be knocked down so often by our emotions. Sometimes we can let our thoughts drift by and then disappear, just like a cloud in the sky.

As a Parker Whitney family, we want to empower our students by fostering mindfulness in everyday life.