Okay, But What IS Mindfulness?

The term mindfulness has kind of a bad rep in the modern world. It conjures up images of hippies and introversion and vegans and all that stuff that US pop culture isn't an enormous fan of. Basically, mindfulness is simply about being hyper-present, which is a great way of not letting time escape you and fully enjoying your life. That sounds pretty great, right? Yeah, it is! Here's a definition:

"Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one's attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training. The term "mindfulness" is a translation of the Pali term sati, which is a significant element of some Buddhist traditions." - http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition

 I like this second definition a lot, because it's about withholding judgment on ourselves. If you truly realized how often you judged yourself negatively throughout the day, whether that be subconsciously in the form of not letting yourself wear a sleeveless shirt on a hot day, or louder as in telling yourself in the mirror that you're too fat, too thin, too ugly, or whatever it is, as we all do, you would fall at your own feet. Mindfulness allows you to let go of judgment and just BE.

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition

Being in the present is something we rarely do in modern day society anymore. We are constantly worried about the future, dwelling on the past, and forget that life is made up of consecutive present moments, and that's all we have. It's limited.

And here's another one from Mandy Hale, a great thinker on mindfulness and happiness:

livelifehappy.com

See how these quotes tie in with body acceptance and food/eating too? If you're constantly wishing you had a different body, a different face, ANYTHING, you're living in the past or future. It's not fair to yourself. Learn to let yourself be.

Let go of shoulds. Let go of judgment. Learn to just exist. That way, you can learn the sound of your own intuition, which is your best friend you haven't met yet. Your intuition will guide you to all the places you want to go and reintroduce you to yourself.

Onward!