Are you wondering what mindfulness is? Perhaps you already know and want some reasons why this would be a beneficial lifestyle change. While mindfulness is often associated with meditation, you don’t have to mediate to be more mindful. Today I’m going to share more about mindfulness and the benefits of this practice.

What Exactly is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the art in which we learn to pay attention to our feelings and thoughts. Practicing mindfulness comes with acceptance, not judgment, of what you’re thinking and feeling during any given situation. You’ll evaluate what you’re feeling and thinking as a means to be more aware of what works best and doesn’t work best for you in life. You’ll use this information to start being more aware of how you respond and act in all areas of life.

The Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness

Boosts Working Memory

Since mindfulness is an art that makes you more aware of how your feeling and what you’re thinking, your working memory improves. You’ll be forcing your brain to work during your daily interactions as a means to become more self-aware of your thoughts and feelings. When you increase your brain usage, your working memory starts to improve.

Reduces Stress & Anxiety

When you become more aware of how you’re feeling and what you’re thinking, there’s a sense of calm that overcomes you. Mindfulness is more about acceptance and awareness than judgment. You’ll start to reduce stress and anxiety because you’ll learn to embrace how you’re feeling and thinking as opposed to analyzing or criticizing it.

Improves Focus

As you continue practicing mindfulness regularly, you’ll find that you have improved focus in all areas of life. You’re using your mind to focus on how you’re feeling and thinking, therefore it’s a similar activity to help increase your concentration skills. When you become more aware of your thoughts, you’re better able to clear your mind to have more brain power for focus in other areas of life.

Reduced Emotional Reactions

Lastly, another benefit of mindfulness is that it reduces the risk of you reacting emotionally to any given situation. When you start practicing mindfulness, you’ll be able to pause before speaking. This practice enables you to respond to situations as opposed to react to them. Being able to reduce emotional reactions is a fabulous way to increase your ability to effectively communicate with anyone.

These are just some of the major benefits of practicing mindfulness that you’ll experience. Mindfulness will take a lot of effort and focus at first, but in time this practice will come quite naturally to you. You’ll begin to feel lower stress levels, fewer anxiety attacks, and in turn, live a happier life when you make the commitment to practice mindfulness.