What is mindfulness?
“Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing” - John Kabat-zinn
Mindfulness is a moment-by-moment awareness and understanding what is going on inside and outside ourselves. Mindfulness is a core human capability, one which helps to be fully present in the moment, aware of our surroundings, of what we are doing, as well as to help us not become overwhelmed by the many things that can be going on around us, and in our lives.
Being mindful means being aware of the present moment in an open and accepting way.
Mindfulness is an important part of the Buddhist tradition but can be practiced by anyone.
Why is mindfulness important?
It’s all too easy to lose ourselves, get preoccupied with work and not be fully aware of the present moment; mindfulness can help us to better enjoy the world around us, organise our thoughts and become more aware of the present moment. One of the best things about it, is that anyone can benefit from mindfulness, it draws on universal human qualities.
When we spend many hours in front of our computer screen, focused on solving problems, we may forget that we also have a body. Unnoticed we build up a lot of tension in our body because of bad posture or stress.
With mindfulness, we can become aware of our breathing and our body. This gives us the possibility to notice if there is tension, and then relax our muscles or take a break. Mindfulness can also help when we are dealing with negative emotions. When we become aware of them, we can stop, go back to our breathing and relax.
What makes Mindfulness at the computer different from other breathing applications?
Many breathing apps ask the user to follow a pre-defined pattern. Mindfulness of breathing means accepting the breathing as it is, without trying to change it.
Learn more
Have a look at these links for more information.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness
- http://franticworld.com/what-is-mindfulness/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc&t=1s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjtfyuTTQFY