Why bother with mindfulness? My honest take.
Did you know today is World Mindfulness Day? It seem as good a time as any to reflect on a few common questions about mindfulness.
First up: why bother with it?
I think it’s a really important question to answer, because there are a gazillion things we could be doing to support our wellbeing and performance.
And many of us already feel overstretched and overwhelmed.
So why pick mindfulness? Why is it worth exploring, and investing our precious time in? Why is it worth re-engaging with it, when we’ve fallen out of the habit?
One reason is that there’s a lot of research on it, showing a lot of benefits.
There’s a vast body of research on mindfulness – in large part because it was shown early on that mindfulness training could have a significant positive impact for people dealing with hard-to-shift challenges, such as chronic pain and continued depression relapses. And, after support from the training, people could continue the mindfulness practices themselves, to sustain benefits over the long term.
This vast body of research now shows a wide variety of benefits of mindfulness.
For example, mindfulness supports:
Coping with negative thoughts, and letting go of unhelpful thinking patterns
Awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions
Our ability to regulate our emotions and feel calmer
Feeling more in control of our behaviour, and more able to override automatic reactions
Greater self-esteem, that’s less dependent on external factors
Greater self-awareness and self-compassion
Improved attention, concentration, working memory
Improved work performance and productivity
Improved emotional intelligence, communication and social skills
Increased vitality, life satisfaction and joy
I include these examples as they’re very relevant to my work! But research has shown a whole host of wider benefits, from helping with drug addiction to protecting against cardiovascular disease.
Overall, mindfulness can give us a brilliant return on the time and energy we put into it.
But I also have a more personal answer to the ‘why mindfulness’ question.
I don’t want to trot out the clichéd narrative of ‘this changed my life, and now I’ll teach you too’... 🙄
BUT — 😅
Mindfulness has honestly made my life significantly better.
I am absolutely not 100% mindful all of the time (that’s not possible, or even necessary).
But I am so much more able to:
Notice my thoughts and feelings in the moment,
Accept them rather than fight them,
Be kind to myself,
And then choose how to respond.
That’s game-changing.
Rather than letting my inner critic tear me down, or fall into anxious spirals, or run away with imagining the worst case scenarios… I have the option to pause, notice, accept, be kind, and then choose.
Mindfulness is not a fix-all. We need other support too.
But I do believe it’s foundational. It underpins so many of the things I work on myself, and support my clients with.
Managing stress and anxiety about work, learning to look after ourselves, making an impact without burning out, dealing with difficult emotions, feeling more confident, building resilience — and recognising when we need that other support, too. The list goes on.
That’s a big part of why I run my mindfulness course. I want to help people build that foundation, because it helps with all the other stuff.
And I’ll be honest — another reason is because guiding others through it helps me keep engaging with and developing my own mindfulness practice. It’s SO easy to fall out of good habits (that’s why my course includes the extra support after the training sessions).
I find mindfulness incredibly helpful. And I see the impact it makes for others through my work.
Whether you’re considering signing up to my mindfulness course, dipping your toe in with an app, or wanting to re-engage with your practice, today’s a good time to reflect on your own ‘why’.
Why might it be important to you?
I’d love to hear 💛
Take care, speak soon,
Heather x
