How Being More Mindful Helps Your Mental Health

In the modern world we live in today, most of us are either stuck in the past or too infatuated with the future. We spend most of our time in front of our computers, smartphones, or tablets to honestly acknowledge and appreciate the things happening around us moment after moment.

It’s a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless. The amount of things we miss out on because we aren’t present is truly astounding, especially when you take a step back to see the direct impact this has on the way we live our lives and how we view the world surrounded by.

If only we could snap out of it and pay more attention to the present, most of us would be much happier and start finding true meaning or purpose in this ever-evolving world we live in. For some, all it takes is a dedication to mindfulness, opposed to indulging in mindlessness.

So, what does it mean to be more mindful?

Mindfulness is defined as the state of being present in the world. It’s the ability to maintain peace with everything happening around us. It’s achieved through moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and surrounding environment.

When most people hear the term ‘mindfulness,’ they immediately think it requires the practice of yoga or meditation. While these are popular tools when being mindful, they are nothing more than just that — tools. Everyone achieves mindfulness in their unique way, and you can too!

Being more mindful is about accepting the fact that your days are limited. It would help if you learned to appreciate every waking moment you get to spend on this Earth and be grateful for the things you experience each moment. It’s about living in the present, not the past or future.

Ways Being Mindful Helps Mental Health

Being more mindful takes practice, especially with the number of distractions we’re faced with daily. With that said, being mindful comes with a wide range of benefits to your mental health and can truly bring out the best in every situation you find yourself in. It’s the way of the world.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways being more mindful can help with your mental health:

1. Relieves Stress and Anxiety

Being more mindful allows you to take a step back and finally relax. It’s a way to help you relieve the stress and anxiety we feel daily. It’s something you can practice every single time you start to think that stress and anxiety overwhelm you or take over your body.

That’s why many people recommend either yoga or meditation as a way of being more mindful, but I don’t think these are the only ways to make it happen. Being more mindful occurs naturally throughout the day, allowing you to take in everything happening around you.

2. Makes You More Grateful

When you’re more mindful, you learn to appreciate and be grateful for the situations you get to experience — both good and bad. When you realize that everything happens for a reason, you start to enjoy the good moments, learn from the bad moments, and love everything in-between.

It might be hard to get used to, but most of us need to start being a little more thankful for the lives we’re given. Life isn’t as bad as we make it out to be, but we often make it worse by suppressing everything and dealing with it a different day — instead of taking it at the moment.

3. Improves Mental Awareness

When you’re mindful throughout the day, you increase your mental awareness and adequately respond to the things you experience in each moment. This includes our feelings, thoughts, emotions, and interactions with those we surround ourselves with.

What typically happens is we learn to push these feelings, emotions, and thoughts to the side when they matter most. By dealing with them on a different day, we don’t allow ourselves to respond appropriately. Instead, they get entrenched for days, weeks, or months.

4. Allows You to Accept and Conquer

When most of us experience a thought, feeling, or emotion, we don’t give ourselves a chance to experience it at the moment fully. By not accepting these feelings, ideas, and emotions, we don’t indeed allow ourselves to conquer them and properly move on from them in the future.

By being more mindful daily, this won’t happen. Instead, you get to be more open and accepting of yourself. This attitude allows you to avoid internal conflict when you suppress these emotions, feelings, and thoughts. It allows for a more positive life.

5. Gives You Strength & Courage

Since being more mindful allows us to live in the moment and respond to each situation positively, it gives us the strength and courage we need daily. Most of us grow weak by suppressing our emotions, but that won’t happen when you practice mindfulness.

Instead, you learn how to react, respond, and deal with these situations positively. Nothing gets pushed to a different day, and everything gets sold at the moment. Of course, that also means we get to experience the good things that happen throughout the day indeed.

How Can You Be More Mindful Starting Today?

Being more mindful is something we should all start paying more attention to. It doesn’t just improve your mental health, but it improves your physical health, emotional health, and spiritual health daily. Before you know it, you’ll be a much more complete individual in life.

If you’re interested in becoming a more mindful individual, it requires practice. The good news is there are people out there willing to help you practice. Contact our good friends over at BetterHelp for more information and guidance for those ready to take this challenge head-on.

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