Mindfulness has all sorts of benefits, including decreased stress and anxiety and increased attention and focus and feelings of connectedness. This month we focused on the skills of mindfulness – the WHAT skills of observe, describe, and participate, and the HOW skills of one-mindfully, nonjudgmentally, and effectively. We also covered the middle path of Wise ... [Read more...]
Mindfulness has gained popularity in recent years. Mindfulness, the skill of non-judgmentally paying attention, has been shown to be beneficial for both emotional and physical health among undergraduate populations.1,2 While it is generally well-known that mindfulness is effective in reducing stress, specifically for undergraduates, mindfulness may be useful in decreasing alcohol problems. Additionally, individualizing mindfulness ... [Read more...]
Wise mind is the balance of emotion and reason. The emotion mind can be characterized by urges, desires, and strong feelings. In contrast, the rational mind can be thought of as the part of you that focuses on logical answers, problem-solving, and planning. As you can imagine, these two mindsets can be conflicting. Often, we ... [Read more...]
Last week we talked about how to practice one-mindfully, one of the HOW skills of mindfulness. The last two HOW skills, non-judgmentally and effectively, in combination with one-mindfully and the WHAT skills, give us the tools we need to be mindful and present in the moment. The non-judgmentally skill is about the facts. This skill ... [Read more...]
The WHAT skills of mindfulness (observe, describe, and participate) allowed us to examine what is happening in the present moment. The HOW skills give us the tools to use our WHAT skills. The first HOW skill, one-mindfully, emphasizes that we should do one thing at a time. When you are eating, eat. When you are ... [Read more...]
Before we jump into mindfulness skills, what is mindfulness? Mindfulness is nonjudgmental awareness of the now. It’s being able to choose what to focus on – this gives you the chance to plan and respond to what is happening around you instead of only reacting. Mindfulness gives you a choice in your actions. The WHAT ... [Read more...]