As we welcome the new year, we also welcome the love, hope, laughter, gratitude, and mindfulness for the present moment.
Mindfulness is everywhere.
It's becoming a buzzword and may even have lost its meaning. But despite that, why should we want mindfulness to be our New Year's resolution?
Mindfulness is the art of paying open, non-judgmental attention from moment to moment. Since it is a practice of presence, what does it have to do with setting new year’s intentions or resolutions?
Though mindfulness is indeed rooted in the present moment, what we discover through mindfulness practice can help us step into the future with greater peace, ease, and clarity.
Today is a new chance to commit yourself to mindfulness and to remind yourself that you are enough. Here's a little mindfulness exercise to kick off your year: ⠀
In doing this exercise, you may not feel immediately "better" - you may not really feel anything different at all. But that's not the point.
When we take the time in our day to practice mindfulness, what are we actually doing? Mindfulness isn't forcing false positivity, false gratitude, or trying to push away feelings that we are naturally having.
As Jon Hershfield & Tom Corboy write in their helpful book, "The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD," "Mindfulness is the state of acknowledging and accepting whatever is happening in the present moment exactly as it is." ⠀
The anxious or depressed mind can cloud over reality until it's all just shades of grey - but that doesn't mean that bright spots aren't there.
By reminding ourselves of their existence, we aren't forgetting the pain and the hurt and frustration that live in our headspace - we're just bringing other friendlier thoughts to the forefront as well.
The practice of writing down and speaking out loud can help to take us out of a mind tangled up in itself, and by weighing the negatives with positives we can begin to paint a more realistic picture that might one day lead us towards perspective. And maybe you're unable to come up with anything.
That's okay too. You still showed up for yourself, and that in itself is something to add to the list. ⠀
Mindfulness will help you achieve your other resolutions this 2022.
Only with awareness can we effectively manage our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to consciously move toward our goals.
