Natural Health for Body and Spirit
Natural remedies, recipies, and musings for your health and wellness
Mindfulness
Natural healing for the body and spirit is meant to promote a sense of well-being and calm as well as support physical health. As we move through life and struggle with the external stressors of jobs and families plus internal stressors of meeting people’s expectations, meeting our own expectations, and striving to be more and better, eventually we run short on energy and positive emotions. There are natural ways to improve mental and physical health. The articles in this blog are not meant to replace good medical care and the advice of your doctor.
Recently, I’ve had some family drama which resulted in a very high anxiety level. For me, being balanced and on an even keel is essential to my success in my job as well as my success as a mother and wife. However, the events unfolding in our family had me completely unbalanced. As I was working on the computer at home, a documentary on mindfulness was playing on the TV. I began to listen to it and I was intrigued by how much impact the simple act of being mindful had on wellness, memory, productivity, and a positive attitude.
Mindfulness is simply being aware for what is around us and being in the present. A wonderful article from the website “Mindful” describes mindfulness as “paying attention to where we are and what’s going on.” It sounds very simple and conceptually, it really is. In practice, learning to be mindful takes some practice. If undisciplined, our brains wander and drift which makes us unproductive, allows negative thoughts to enter, and can create anxiety. Practicing mindfulness helps us focus on the present and what we are currently experiencing and reduces our tendency to dwell on past problems or worry about future events.
Learning to be mindful begins with practice. There are a lot of really great tools available, many for free, to help with learning to be mindful. A good one to start with is Pocket Mindfulness, a website that walks you through six mindfulness exercises. There are also many smartphone applications that provide guided meditation and support for mindfulness training.
I hope you will try to practice mindfulness. I know I will!
Natural Health for Body and Spirit 