how mindful am i essay

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Assessment: How Mindful Are You?

• Jacqueline Carter,
• Rasmus Hougaard,
• Rob Stembridge

It’s not always easy to focus on what you’re doing.

Mindfulness is the ability to stay focused, while being aware of your thoughts and surroundings and being able to recognize and move past distractions as they arise. This is getting harder. Research shows that people spend almost 47% of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing, which impairs their creativity, performance, and well-being .

This assessment aims to help you understand how mindful you are. The authors provide you with a rating of your mindfulness and recommendations for improving it.

Mindfulness is the ability to stay focused, while being aware of your thoughts and surroundings and being able to recognize and move past distractions as they arise.

• Jacqueline Carter is a senior partner and the North American Director of Potential Project. She has extensive experience working with senior leaders to enable them to achieve better performance while enhancing a more caring culture. She is the coauthor, with Rasmus Hougaard, of Compassionate Leadership: How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way and The Mind of the Leader – How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results .
• Rasmus Hougaard is the founder and CEO of Potential Project , a global leadership development and research firm serving Accenture, Cisco, KPMG, Citi, and hundreds of other organizations. He is the coauthor, with Jacqueline Carter, of Compassionate Leadership: How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way and The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results .
• Rob Stembridge is a senior partner and the head of Global Solutions at Potential Project.

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Mindfulness — Mindfulness in Daily Life

Mindfulness in Daily Life

• Categories: Health Education Mindfulness

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Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 652 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

What is mindfulness, applying mindfulness in daily life, the benefits of mindfulness, challenges of practicing mindfulness.

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Journaling for Mindfulness: 44 Prompts, Examples & Exercises

Maybe you are at the beginning, getting ready to start a habit, or perhaps you are an experienced mindfulness practitioner looking for a new tool.

Regardless of where you are on your journey, we hope you will find something useful here, as we explain how to use the act of journaling as a way of practicing mindfulness.

Mindfulness has become a buzzword for good reason because it has so many benefits. First, it is so easy to implement. It is low cost, can be practiced anywhere, and only requires your time and consistency.

Despite the ease of implementing mindfulness, like any new habit, it can be overwhelming for beginners. Where should you start? Should you implement a daily meditation session, mindful eating, mindful exercise, or mindful walking? The answer is you should start small.

Probably one of the easiest ways to implement mindfulness is through journaling. And this post will help you start this new practice.

This post is suitable for beginners and current practitioners of mindfulness. If you’re ready, dust off your notebook, find a pen and a quiet, sunny spot, and let’s begin!

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free . These science-based, comprehensive exercises will help you cultivate a sense of inner peace throughout your daily life and will also give you tools to enhance the mindfulness of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains:

What is journaling in mindfulness.

• 38 Useful Prompts and Exercises

Our 5 Best Mindfulness Tools

A take-home message.

Journaling is a much easier way to start implementing mindfulness.

Brief definition of mindfulness

Mindfulness describes a practice of focused attention and awareness. Kabat-Zinn (2003, p. 145) defines mindfulness as:

the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment , and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.

There are many ways that we can practice mindfulness: meditation, mindful eating, mindful running, breathing exercises, and body scans. Another method is through journaling.

Why consider journaling?

Since journaling is an easier way to implement mindfulness than other techniques, such as meditation, you can start it at any time. Besides the ease of starting a journaling habit, it also has positive benefits, enhancing physical health (Pennebaker, 1997) and improved academic performance (Scherer, 2002).

As an activity, journaling shares some characteristics of mindfulness (Khramtsova & Glascock, 2010):

• It helps sharpen your focus.
• It turns your attention inward.
• It can be used to increase positive thoughts.
• It can be used to decrease negative thoughts.
• It is easy to implement.
• It has little or no cost.
• It can be performed anywhere.
• It can be performed at any age.

Journaling and mindfulness

Several studies that used a mindfulness intervention have incorporated some form of journaling as a part of the mindfulness repertoire. In some instances, the type of journaling has been described as:

• Gratitude journaling (e.g., Beck & Verticchio, 2018; Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Khramtsova & Glascock, 2010; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005)
• Reappraisal journaling (e.g., Khramtsova & Glascock, 2010)
• Counseling journaling (e.g., Beck & Verticchio, 2018)
• Self-compassion journal (e.g., Germer, 2009)
• Reflective journaling. (Beck & Verticchio, 2014; Bohecker, Wathen, Wells, Salazar, & Vereen, 2014)
• Expressive writing (Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016)

Where mindfulness was used as an intervention method, the experimental group (i.e., the one who received the mindfulness training ) reliably showed higher levels of mindfulness, fewer depressive symptoms, and lower anxiety.

Does the journaling format make a difference?

Currently, there is very little empirical evidence that one type of journaling is better than another.

Some studies might include more than one type of journaling format in their mindfulness intervention, which makes it difficult to isolate the individual effects of each journaling format. For example, Khramtsova and Glascock (2010) included reappraisal and gratitude journaling in their mindfulness intervention.

The experimental group showed higher levels of mindfulness compared to the control group, but it is unclear how each type of journaling contributed uniquely to mindfulness.

Beck and Verticchio (2018) recruited participants and assigned them to one of two groups: gratitude journaling or counseling journaling. They aimed to determine which type of journaling had the most significant effect on the scores of the Self-Compassion Scale .

After a set number of weeks, they found both groups had improved upon the subscales of the Self-Compassion Scale, suggesting that both types of journaling are effective. Surprisingly, however, the counseling journaling group had the most significant improvement on the Self-Compassion Scale, whereas the gratitude journaling group had no improvement.

However, these results should be interpreted tentatively, because (1) the sample sizes are small, (2) the results have not been replicated yet, and (3) the two groups differed significantly from each other before the intervention took place (suggesting that the two groups are not actually comparable).

How to keep a gratitude journal – HuffPost

So what now?

A great deal of research with a two-group design has shown that participants who practice mindfulness report more mindfulness and fewer depressive symptoms compared to a control group, regardless of the type of journaling method used in the mindfulness intervention. The majority of mindfulness interventions included gratitude journaling .

However, journaling in general should be beneficial. Part of the reason for this might be because writing is a very focused action, is slower than thinking, and requires attention.

Example 1: Gratitude journaling

In published manuscripts where journaling was included in the mindfulness interventions, most have used a gratitude journal format.

Typically the instructions for a gratitude journal are as follows:

There are many things in our lives, both large and small, that we might be grateful about. Think back over the past week and write down on the lines below up to five things in your life that you are grateful or thankful for.

If this were my journal, for example, I would list the following five things I am grateful for:

• I am healthy enough to run.
• I adopted two little dogs who make me laugh.
• I am reading an interesting book .
• My work is difficult, and this stimulates me.
• We bought a heater so that our house isn’t cold.

The items that you are grateful for can be inanimate or animate, material or abstract, as general or specific as you want. The point is that you have to find things that you are grateful for.

Example 2: Exercises to check in

Another useful way to use journaling is to check in. By ‘check in,’ I mean that you take a moment to check your progress on a task/goal, your feelings, and reflect on what has happened. One way that I like to use a check-in is to specify my goals for the week in my journal, and then at the end of each day, I reflect on how much progress I have made toward that goal.

For example, if I am trying to remember to express gratitude, then I list that as my goal, and I will consciously reflect on finding opportunities to complete this task. I will then list these opportunities and describe them in my journal.

I also like to jot down hurdles I encountered and describe how I overcame them or whether there is a silver lining to the challenge.

As an example, I often feel anxious when I have lots of tasks to complete and don’t want to forget about them. Although this is a stressful feeling, I have learned that writing down the list and prioritizing the items is very useful. Now I know that the sense of racing thoughts might be a sign that I have too much work, and I have learned a new technique (list and prioritize) to manage the tasks better.

Example 3: Doodling and coloring

Although not typically considered a form of journaling, doodling and mindfulness coloring are useful techniques that can easily be done in a journal. You could consider two different methods.

1. Doodling

Take a fine black pen and start either in the middle of the page and work your way out, or start in one corner and move to the opposite diagonal corner. While doodling, you can reflect on the same gratitude instruction used above, or you can focus on the doodles and making the lines connect. There is no wrong option here.

2. Coloring

Print out an image, stick in your journal, and color it in, or color your doodle. Good images to color are those that are very detailed with many empty compartments.

Mandalas are an excellent example of intricate images to color. If you feel very adventurous, you could try to draw your own mandala to color.

39 Useful Prompts and Exercises

To help you with your journaling journey, we’ve provided a list of prompts and exercises that you could use. Pick one at random, or assign different exercises for different days. If you have any additional prompts or activities that you like to use, then share them with us in the comments section below.

12 Monthly Themes

Assign a theme for each month to focus on in your journal. For example, January could be a month of mindful financial expenditure (a necessary exercise for most of us after the holiday season). Then, when journaling on a day in January, you can reflect on any instances when you were tempted to purchase items unnecessarily, but didn’t.

Here are some other examples of monthly themes:

• Mindful financial expenditure – January
• Expressing love – February
• Mindfulness at work – March
• Thinking before speaking – April
• Mindful eating exercises – May
• Expressing gratitude to loved ones – June
• Your meditation journey – July
• Checking in with yourself – August
• Mindful meditation – September
• Mindful gift giving – October
• Mindful thinking – November
• Mindful holidays – December

Download 3 Free Mindfulness Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients enjoy the benefits of mindfulness and create positive shifts in their mental, physical, and emotional health.

Download 3 Free Mindfulness Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

11 Gratitude prompts

Any of the following prompts can be used when journaling (adapted from Davenport & Scott, 2018). The primary theme of these prompts is to focus on gratitude.

Each prompt is written in the first-person so can express and own the thought. For each prompt, think of 3–5 items and describe why you feel grateful.

• I think of the work that I perform in my career or at home. I reflect on how it affects my life, including my physical and emotional wellbeing. With these thoughts in mind, I feel grateful for…
• I think of the people who are important to me. These people are my family and/or my friends. I reflect on how they affect my life and how I feel when I spend time with them. With these thoughts in mind, I am grateful for…
• I am aware of my strengths and skills, which have helped me on my path to where I am today. I feel grateful for…
• I am aware of my interests and passions, which provide me with stimulation and inspire me. I feel grateful for…
• I think of the home that I live in, and I reflect on how it provides my family and me with a safe, secure, stable place for us to live. I feel grateful for…
• I am grateful for the food that I have eaten in my life. I reflect on the meals that I have shared with friends, families, and colleagues. I am grateful for…
• I am mindful of the gifts that I received for special holidays and my birthday. I am grateful for…
• I think of the area where I live. I think of the shops where we buy food, the people we have met, and the experiences we have had. I feel grateful for…
• I reflect on my past and all the mentors and teachers who have helped me on my path. I feel grateful for…
• I am mindful of my health and my body. I reflect on the times when I have enjoyed good health. I am grateful for…
• I am mindful of the challenges that I have faced on my journey to where I am now. Without these challenges, I would not be who I am today. I feel grateful for…

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Updated monthly. 100% Science-based.

“The best positive psychology resource out there!” — Emiliya Zhivotovskaya , Flourishing Center CEO

9 Daily prompts

Here we provide a list of daily prompts that you can use for your journal. These prompts are not necessarily focused on gratitude but include other positive experiences. These prompts were inspired by Patel (2015).

• Name three thoughts that made you smile today.
• Name three things that challenged you today.
• Name three urges that you resisted today.
• Name three events that made you feel productive today.
• Name three actions that made you feel loved today.
• Name three beautiful things that you heard today.
• Name three experiences that made you feel brave today.
• Name three things that you learned today.
• Name three beautiful things that you saw today.

7 Daily outlines for journaling

Daily journaling can take other formats besides prompts and reflections of gratitude. For example, you could set aside some time at the beginning of the day before work as well as at the end of the day after work to journal.

Here are some prompts for the beginning of the day:

• What am I looking forward to today?
• What might challenge me today?
• What will I do if I feel anxious/stressed/worried today?

Here are some prompts that can be used for the end of the day:

• What positive things happened today?
• What, if anything, went wrong today?
• What will I do differently tomorrow?
• What am I grateful for today?

These same prompts could also be used for monthly journal outlines. For example, at the start of the month, you could choose a theme and specify three prompts that you will use that month to guide you.

Tools to start with

• A pen (or pens)
• A comfy spot

You do not need an expensive journal to journal .

I have a simple journal that I bought on sale, and I bought a set of pens from the local discount store. Because I am left-handed, I chose a journal that was easy for me to write in (e.g., I don’t like ring spines because my hand always hits it), and I must admit that I have a soft spot for hardcover.

With these two constraints, I paid a small amount for my journaling items. You might ask whether using an electronic device counts as journaling. In my opinion, no, it does not. This is because writing by hand requires more attention than typing at the computer or on a device, where there are added distractions like email, music, and social media.

I like to journal at our breakfast nook, which is near a window. I cordoned off some time in the morning and the evening to journal, and I have scheduled this time in my calendar. The time isn’t long, between 5 and 10 minutes. But what is essential is that the time is booked and unmovable. My day doesn’t start or end until I have completed these two tasks.

Our best tools

Now that you’re ready to start journaling, where should you start?

At PositivePsychology.com, we have excellent resources for you to use. You can use our Gratitude Journal Worksheet to start your journaling practice. The exercises in this sheet can be easily adapted for monthly and daily journaling habits.

If you want to try your hand at some self-affirmation journaling, then try our I’m Great Because… Worksheet . This worksheet would be a good exercise to complete at the end of every week or month, or you can use one statement as your theme for the month.

Our Self-Esteem Journal For Adults is another useful source of inspiration. This worksheet provides you prompts that will help you jot down and reflect on meaningful daily events. The prompts serve as beneficial reflection exercises.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others enjoy the benefits of mindfulness, this collection contains 17 validated mindfulness tools for practitioners. Use them to help others reduce stress and create positive shifts in their mental, physical, and emotional health.

Top 17 Exercises for Mindfulness & Meditation

Use these 17 Mindfulness & Meditation Exercises [PDF] to help others build life-changing habits and enhance their wellbeing with the physical and psychological benefits of mindfulness.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Journaling is a very powerful tool that is often used as part of mindfulness interventions.

Journaling is powerful because it is cheap, easy to implement, can be performed anywhere and by anyone.

There isn’t only one type of journaling; instead, there are multiple formats that you can follow. Regardless of the format that you follow, you must take the time to journal regularly and meaningfully. The journal is your personal expression of your feelings and thoughts.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free .

• Beck, A. R., & Verticchio, H. (2014). Counseling and mindfulness practice with graduate students in communication sciences and disorders. Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 41 (Fall), 133–148.
• Beck, A. R., & Verticchio, H. (2018). Effectiveness of a method for teaching self-compassion to communication sciences and disorders graduate students. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology , 27 (1), 192–206.
• Bohecker, L., Wathen, C., Wells, P., Salazar, B. M., & Vereen, L. G. (2014). Mindfully educating our future: The MESG curriculum for training emergent counselors. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work , 39 (3), 257–273.
• Davenport, B., & Scott, S. J. (2018). The mindfulness journal . Oldtown Publishing.
• Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: Experimental studies of gratitude and subjective wellbeing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 84 (2), 377–389.
• Germer, C. (2009). The mindful path to self-compassion: Freeing yourself from destructive thoughts and emotions. Guilford Press.
• Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness‐based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice , 10 (2), 144–156.
• Patel, M. L. (2015). Start where you are: A journal for self-exploration . TarcherPerigee
• Khramtsova, I., & Glascock, P. (2010). Outcomes of an integrated journaling and mindfulness program on a US university campus. Revista de psihologie , 56 (3–4), 208–217.
• Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotions. Guilford Press.
• Pennebaker, J. W., & Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening up by writing it down: How expressive writing improves health and eases emotional pain . Guilford Press.
• Scherer, M. (2002). Do students care about learning? A conversation with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Educational Leadership , 60 (1), 12–17. Accessed on June 19, 2020, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept02/vol60/num01/Do-Students-Care-About-Learning%C2%A2-A-Conversation-with-Mihaly-Csikszentmihalyi.aspx
• Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60 (5), 410–421.

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Article feedback

What our readers think.

Nice article, love your content. Exercise is another great way to practice being mindful; I’m thinking of particularly intense hyperthrophy training, ie. weight lifting. Ever consider that as a topic for writing or research? The mind-muscle connection is a perfect fit for mindfulness.

Glad you enjoyed the article, and thank you for your suggestion! A post on the mind-body connection in the context of mindfulness sounds like an interesting topic for this blog — I will pass this on to our writing team. In the interim, you may find some useful information on this topic here .

Kind regards, Julia | Community Manager

It will be great, if you add few descent books (preferably evidence based) that tells more details about “mindful journaling”.

Albight – Article is good and useful.

Thanks for this informative and resourceful page. Metta (Love and Kindness) from Nepal

Hey, when was this article written?

Hi Carolynn,

This article was written the 8th of July 2020.

– Nicole | Community Manager

I am wondering if you have any resources for a reflective journalling practice? I am doing my PhD research studying the effectiveness of a trauma sensitive yoga intervention and am hoping participants will engage in some journalling throughout the intervention.

Hi Bridget,

I’d take a look at this article by Cook and colleagues (2018) which employs a reflective journaling intervention with a sample of veterans with PTSD. Given that the focus is on a trauma intervention, there may be some evidence for the practice’s effectiveness that could be applied to your research.

You will also find a range of reviews (often in the pedagogical context) if you do a search for “reflective journaling” in Google Scholar.

Hope this helps!

Thank you. I do leadership coaching in corporate and faith-based organizations and encourage journaling and mindfulness practices. I appreciate the additional ideas and opportunities to refresh my practice and help others to refresh theirs.

I’m a Mindset Coach and Hypnotist… Thank you so much for this page… it’s full of rich and effective content – your whole website is 🙂 – and ways for remaining (or reclaiming) a positive outlook (or as best as possible one can find). THANK YOU

This article is insightful and relevant. It highlights the importance of “taking stock” which leads to being consciously aware of what’s important to me. Great for my journey of reawakening. Thank you so much ???

Thank you for helping open this door to live purposefully. That’s a beautiful doodle!

These are very useful this time of the pandemic.

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How mindful am I?

Dr Retha van Rensburg October 2017

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale ( Brown, K.W. & Ryan, R.M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822-848 .)

Day-to-Day Experiences

Below is a collection of statements about your everyday experience. Using the 1-6 scale below, please indicate how frequently or infrequently you currently have each experience. Please answer according to what really reflects your experience rather than what you think your experience should be. Please treat each item separately from every other item.

• I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.

Very frequently

Somewhat frequently

Somewhat infrequently

infrequently

Almost never

• I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else.
• I find it difficult to stay focused on what's happening in the present.
• I tend to walk quickly to get where I'm going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.
• I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.
• I forget a person's name almost as soon as I've been told it for the first time.
• It seems I am "running on automatic," without much awareness of what I'm doing.
• I rush through activities without being really attentive to them.
• I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I'm doing right now to get there.
• I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I'm doing
• I find myself listening to someone with one ear, doing something else at the same time.
• I drive places on "automatic pilot" and then wonder why I went there.
• I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past.
• I find myself doing things without paying attention.
• I snack without being aware that I'm eating.

Scoring information:

To know how mindful you are simply add all your scores together and divide by 15. The higher you score the more mindful you are.

This post is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered therapy. This blog is only for informational and educational purposes and should not be considered therapy or any form of treatment. We are not able to respond to specific questions or comments about personal situations, appropriate diagnosis or treatment, or otherwise provide any clinical opinions. If you think you need immediate assistance, call your local doctor/psychologist or psychiatrist or the SADAG Mental Health Line on 011 234 4837. If necessary, please phone the Suicide Crisis Line on 0800 567 567 or sms 31393.

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Thich Nhat Hanh on The Practice of Mindfulness

The late Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh teaches five simple exercises to help you live with joy.

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Our true home is not in the past. Our true home is not in the future. Our true home is in the here and the now. Life is available only in the here and the now, and it is our true home.

Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the conditions of happiness that are already present in our lives. You don’t have to wait ten years to experience this happiness. It is present in every moment of your daily life. There are those of us who are alive but don’t know it. But when you breathe in, and you are aware of your in-breath, you touch the miracle of being alive. That is why mindfulness is a source of happiness and joy.

You don’t have to wait ten years to experience this happiness. It is present in every moment of your daily life.

Most people are forgetful; they are not really there a lot of the time. Their mind is caught in their worries, their fears, their anger, and their regrets, and they are not mindful of being there. That state of being is called forgetfulness—you are there but you are not there. You are caught in the past or in the future. You are not there in the present moment, living your life deeply. That is forgetfulness.

The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together. You breathe in and out mindfully, you bring your mind back to your body, and you are there. When your mind is there with your body, you are established in the present moment. Then you can recognize the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you, and happiness just comes naturally.

Mindfulness practice should be enjoyable, not work or effort. Do you have to make an effort to breathe in? You don’t need to make an effort. To breathe in, you just breathe in. Suppose you are with a group of people contemplating a beautiful sunset. Do you have to make an effort to enjoy the beautiful sunset? No, you don’t have to make any effort. You just enjoy it.

The same thing is true with your breath. Allow your breath to take place. Become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. Enjoyment. The same thing is true with walking mindfully. Every step you take is enjoyable. Every step helps you to touch the wonders of life, in yourself and around you. Every step is peace. Every step is joy. That is possible.

During the time you are practicing mindfulness, you stop talking—not only the talking outside, but the talking inside. The talking inside is the thinking, the mental discourse that goes on and on and on inside. Real silence is the cessation of talking—of both the mouth and the mind. This is not the kind of silence that oppresses us. It is a very elegant kind of silence, a very powerful kind of silence. It is the silence that heals and nourishes us.

Mindfulness gives birth to joy and happiness. Another source of happiness is concentration. The energy of mindfulness carries within it the energy of concentration. When you are aware of something, such as a flower, and can maintain that awareness, we say that you are concentrated on the flower. When your mindfulness becomes powerful, your concentration becomes powerful, and when you are fully concentrated, you have a chance to make a breakthrough, to achieve insight. If you meditate on a cloud, you can get insight into the nature of the cloud. Or you can meditate on a pebble, and if you have enough mindfulness and concentration, you can see into the nature of the pebble. You can meditate on a person, and if you have enough mindfulness and concentration, you can make a breakthrough and understand the nature of that person. You can meditate on yourself, or your anger, or your fear, or your joy, or your peace.

Anything can be the object of your meditation, and with the powerful energy of concentration, you can make a breakthrough and develop insight. It’s like a magnifying glass concentrating the light of the sun. If you put the point of concentrated light on a piece of paper, it will burn. Similarly, when your mindfulness and concentration are powerful, your insight will liberate you from fear, anger, and despair, and bring you true joy, true peace, and true happiness.

When your mindfulness becomes powerful, your concentration becomes powerful, and when you are fully concentrated, you have a chance to make a breakthrough, to achieve insight.

When you contemplate the big, full sunrise, the more mindful and concentrated you are, the more the beauty of the sunrise is revealed to you. Suppose you are offered a cup of tea, very fragrant, very good tea. If your mind is distracted, you cannot really enjoy the tea. You have to be mindful of the tea, you have to be concentrated on it, so the tea can reveal its fragrance and wonder to you. That is why mindfulness and concentration are such sources of happiness. That’s why a good practitioner knows how to create a moment of joy, a feeling of happiness, at any time of the day.

First Mindfulness Exercise: Mindful Breathing

The first exercise is very simple, but the power, the result, can be very great. The exercise is simply to identify the in-breath as the in-breath and the out-breath as the out-breath. When you breathe in, you know that this is your in-breath. When you breathe out, you are mindful that this is your out-breath.

Just recognize: this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath. Very simple, very easy. In order to recognize your in-breath as in-breath, you have to bring your mind home to yourself. What is recognizing your in-breath is your mind, and the object of your mind—the object of your mindfulness—is the in-breath. Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. When you drink your tea mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of drinking. When you walk mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of walking. And when you breathe mindfully, that is mindfulness of breathing.

So the object of your mindfulness is your breath, and you just focus your attention on it. Breathing in, this is my in-breath. Breathing out, this is my out-breath. When you do that, the mental discourse will stop. You don’t think anymore. You don’t have to make an effort to stop your thinking; you bring your attention to your in-breath and the mental discourse just stops. That is the miracle of the practice. You don’t think of the past anymore. You don’t think of the future. You don’t think of your projects, because you are focusing your attention, your mindfulness, on your breath.

The in-breath can be a celebration of the fact that you are alive, so it can be very joyful.

It gets even better. You can enjoy your in-breath. The practice can be pleasant, joyful. Someone who is dead cannot take any more in-breaths. But you are alive. You are breathing in, and while breathing in, you know that you are alive. The in-breath can be a celebration of the fact that you are alive, so it can be very joyful. When you are joyful and happy, you don’t feel that you have to make any effort at all. I am alive; I am breathing in. To be still alive is a miracle. The greatest of all miracles is to be alive, and when you breathe in, you touch that miracle. Therefore, your breathing can be a celebration of life.

An in-breath may take three, four, five seconds, it depends. That’s time to be alive, time to enjoy your breath. You don’t have to interfere with your breathing. If your in-breath is short, allow it to be short. If your out-breath is long, let it be long. Don’t try to force it. The practice is simple recognition of the in-breath and the out-breath. That is good enough. It will have a powerful effect.

Second Mindfulness Exercise: Concentration

The second exercise is that while you breathe in, you follow your in-breath from the beginning to the end. If your in-breath lasts three or four seconds, then your mindfulness also lasts three or four seconds. Breathing in, I follow my in-breath all the way through. Breathing out, I follow my out-breath all the way through. From the beginning of my out-breath to the end of my out-breath, my mind is always with it. Therefore, mindfulness becomes uninterrupted, and the quality of your concentration is improved.

So the second exercise is to follow your in-breath and your out-breath all the way through. Whether they are short or long, it doesn’t matter. What is important is that you follow your in-breath from the beginning to the end. Your awareness is sustained. There is no interruption. Suppose you are breathing in, and then you think, “Oh, I forgot to turn off the light in my room.” There is an interruption. Just stick to your in-breath all the way through. Then you cultivate your mindfulness and your concentration. You become your in-breath. You become your out-breath. If you continue like that, your breathing will naturally become deeper and slower, more harmonious and peaceful. You don’t have to make any effort—it happens naturally.

Third Mindfulness Exercise: Awareness of Your Body

The third exercise is to become aware of your body as you are breathing. “Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body.” This takes it one step further.

In the first exercise, you became aware of your in-breath and your out-breath. Because you have now generated the energy of mindfulness through mindful breathing, you can use that energy to recognize your body.

“Breathing in, I am aware of my body. Breathing out, I am aware of my body.” I know my body is there. This brings the mind wholly back to the body. Mind and body become one reality. When your mind is with your body, you are well-established in the here and the now. You are fully alive. You can be in touch with the wonders of life that are available in yourself and around you.

This exercise is simple, but the effect of the oneness of body and mind is very great. In our daily lives, we are seldom in that situation. Our body is there but our mind is elsewhere. Our mind may be caught in the past or in the future, in regrets, sorrow, fear, or uncertainty, and so our mind is not there. Someone may be present in the house, but he’s not really there, his mind is not there. His mind is with the future, with his projects, and he’s not there for his children or his spouse. Maybe you could say to him, “Anybody home?” and help him bring his mind back to his body.

So the third exercise is to become aware of your body. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my body.” When you practice mindful breathing, the quality of your in-breath and out-breath will be improved. There is more peace and harmony in your breathing, and if you continue to practice like that, the peace and the harmony will penetrate into the body, and the body will profit.

Fourth Mindfulness Exercise: Releasing Tension

The next exercise is to release the tension in the body. When you are truly aware of your body, you notice there is some tension and pain in your body, some stress. The tension and pain have been accumulating for a long time and our body suffers, but our mind is not there to help release it. Therefore, it is very important to learn how to release the tension in the body.

It is always possible to practice releasing the tension in yourself.

In a sitting, lying, or standing position, it’s always possible to release the tension. You can practice total relaxation, deep relaxation, in a sitting or lying position. While you are driving your car, you might notice the tension in your body. You are eager to arrive and you don’t enjoy the time you spend driving. When you come to a red light, you are eager for the red light to become a green light so that you can continue. But the red light can be a signal. It can be a reminder that there is tension in you, the stress of wanting to arrive as quickly as possible. If you recognize that, you can make use of the red light. You can sit back and relax—take the ten seconds the light is red to practice mindful breathing and release the tension in the body.

So next time you’re stopped at a red light, you might like to sit back and practice the fourth exercise: “Breathing in, I’m aware of my body. Breathing out, I release the tension in my body.” Peace is possible at that moment, and it can be practiced many times a day—in the workplace, while you are driving, while you are cooking, while you are doing the dishes, while you are watering the vegetable garden. It is always possible to practice releasing the tension in yourself.

Walking Meditation

When you practice mindful breathing you simply allow your in-breath to take place. You become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. The same thing is true with mindful walking. Every step is enjoyable. Every step helps you touch the wonders of life. Every step is joy. That is possible.

You don’t have to make any effort during walking meditation, because it is enjoyable. You are there, body and mind together. You are fully alive, fully present in the here and the now. With every step, you touch the wonders of life that are in you and around you. When you walk like that, every step brings healing. Every step brings peace and joy, because every step is a miracle.

The real miracle is not to fly or walk on fire. The real miracle is to walk on the Earth, and you can perform that miracle at any time. Just bring your mind home to your body, become alive, and perform the miracle of walking on Earth.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness

What mindfulness can (and can't) do for us, mindfulness is great, but not a one-size-fits-all solution to life's problems..

Posted December 3, 2020 | Reviewed by Matt Huston

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Recently, an acquaintance of mine got into mindfulness meditation and is now spreading the gospel that meditating every day has not only made her happier and more productive, it’s even helped her heal injuries.

Hold up. Heal injuries? How?

She offered an example. She explained that she recently lightly cut her thumb. To help with healing, she just stopped and meditated with her full attention on the cut twice per day. The thumb scabbed over and healed within a couple of days. She felt that was a lot faster and less painful than usual.

“You also cleaned the cut to prevent infection, right?” I asked.

“No, no, you don’t need that," she said. "Your body will always heal itself if you really meditate mindfully.”

While I’m pleased my friend is in good spirits and experiencing less discomfort, her mindfulness -is-a-cure-all stance had me a bit more than concerned. And she isn’t the only one jumping on the mindfulness-fixes-everything train.

The popularity of mindfulness

Mindfulness seems to be everywhere these days and its popularity is only continuing to grow. Everyone and their next-door neighbor are getting into it! Neuroscientists, doctors, corporate executives, lifestyle gurus... they're all excited about its potential for improving our lives.

There’s reason for the hype. Research shows that mindfulness can help to reduce cancer-related symptoms , improve the childbirth experience , reduce stress and increase empathy , and promote healthier eating habits . Nowadays, as more and more of us mental health professionals are incorporating it into our therapies, it’s hard to talk to a therapist without mindfulness coming up.

But is there the chance we’re all getting a bit too carried away? Is mindfulness really a cure-all?

What mindfulness is... and isn't

First, let me say that I’m a big cheerleader of mindfulness as a philosophy and a practice. I say this as both a clinical scientist and as a person who practices mindfulness daily. It’s really been helpful through chronic back pain and coronavirus anxiety .

But I also value being careful and aware of how we talk about mindfulness. I don’t want mindfulness to be a passing fad like shoulder pads or Zumba, and that can happen when we exaggerate claims about its effectiveness. For mindfulness to truly help people, it needs to have a consistent place in our culture backed by an accurate understanding of what it is and what it isn’t.

Mindfulness is not (necessarily) meditation

This one is important. Mindfulness and meditation are not one and the same.

Meditation is an activity, something you do. There are many forms of meditation—some involve focusing on our breath, some involve imagining a calming scene, some involving repeating a mantra. Usually, you would need to set aside time and a quiet place to practice meditation.

Mindfulness, however, is more of a philosophy than an activity. It’s an idea: to simply be here and now, without judgment. You don’t need to be secluded or follow a ritual during a specific time to practice mindfulness. You could be washing your car, having a snack, jogging around the park, playing with your dog, singing in the shower… all of these activities can be done in a mindful way by being fully present in the moment.

Of course, you can definitely practice mindfulness using meditation. One of my favorite meditations is the Mindful Breathing practice. You simply breathe and pay attention to your breath without judgment. That’s all it takes.

But not all meditation is mindful. For example, some meditations guide your imagination through a relaxing scene. But mentally traveling to a different place instead of being here and now is the opposite of being mindful. If we think mindfulness always looks like sitting cross-legged and humming a mantra, then we're less likely to give it a try or to cultivate it long-term, so it’s an important difference to understand.

Mindfulness is not a cure-all

Mindfulness has been incorporated into all sorts of psychotherapies, and sometimes even into performance-boosting programs . Lots of headlines make it seem like mindfulness is the miracle elixir for all of our ills, from low motivation to anxiety to insomnia .

But mindfulness is not a cure-all.

Most of the clinical trials that show mindfulness as improving symptoms included other psychotherapy “ingredients” like working through unhelpful thoughts or increasing activity level. So the headlines, if they were accurate, would read more like: “Mindfulness practice plus setting goals and talking to a therapist about your thoughts is helpful for decreasing stress .” Less catchy, but more of the whole picture.

So I like to think of mindfulness as a healthy start—a way for us to connect non-judgmentally with our bodies and minds so we’re not struggling against ourselves when we’re in pain or feeling at odds with ourselves.

Mindfulness does not and should not replace your doctor’s advice or other standard treatments

I hope my friend with the hurt thumb will practice proper injury care next time, like disinfecting broken skin and icing inflammation. But I’m not too worried about minor injuries. It’s serious injuries and health conditions that I want to be really clear about. For those, mindfulness alone is not enough!

There is some research about mindful healing that shows these approaches may be helpful for people undergoing physical rehab after an injury. It doesn’t work miracles—you won’t suddenly turn into Wolverine with self-healing superpowers. But when you're injured, mindfulness can help with managing pain, improving mood, and decreasing fatigue.

When it comes to serious psychiatric conditions, there is some evidence that mindfulness can decrease symptoms of psychosis , but this more applies to improving motivation and daily functioning, not so much hallucinations or delusions.

Mindfulness does not sweep away trauma

Facing trauma is never easy. If you’ve experienced a life-threatening event or childhood abuse, you know that trauma leaves its mark on your body and mind. Even if you don’t have full-blown posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ), you may have problems like always feeling on edge, having unexplained pain or other physical symptoms, having a hard time handling difficult emotions, or not sleeping well.

The good news is that mindfulness-based practices can reduce PTSD symptoms . The not-so-good news is that reducing symptoms doesn’t mean getting to the other side of trauma, the place where you truly make peace with what happened and with yourself. Trauma burrows deep into our brains, and it won’t simply fade away when you get in better touch with your body and emotions.

For some, mindfulness practice might even trigger trauma flashbacks. This doesn’t mean that people with trauma should not practice mindfulness; it’s actually a good place to start. But ultimately, working with a trauma-focused therapist who can give you evidence-based treatments like cognitive processing therapy (CPT) can help you incorporate mindfulness safely.

Mindfulness is not a tool for patching up physical, mental, or spiritual problems

As a sleep specialist, I often hear patients say they’ve tried mindfulness apps when they couldn’t fall asleep. But they also tell me this technique often doesn’t work. The problem is that mindfulness is not a fix-it tool. It’s not something to be whipped out every so often when things go awry. Instead, it’s a philosophy and a way of being.

Your body and mind need to learn how to be mindful over time—this isn’t easy! Just as you wouldn’t sit on the couch all year and then expect to run a marathon, you can’t go around unmindfully all the time and then expect to be good at it when you run into stress, pain, or insomnia.

Besides, if you’re using mindfulness to avoid problems, you’re missing the point. Mindfulness teaches us to fully feel and accept our experiences, including the hard ones. The hope is to cultivate an authentic relationship with ourselves and our surroundings, not to patch up whatever we don’t like.

Mindfulness is about paying attention

To sum up, mindfulness is powerful. It can serve as a solid foundation for self-awareness and well-being. But it won’t solve all your problems and it’s a philosophy to be cultivated.

When we boil it down to the basics, being mindful really just means paying attention to reality through our senses. It means watching the leaves and flowers when we run through the park instead of going on autopilot. It means letting yourself feel discomfort fully instead of trying to ignore it. It means really tasting the food you’re eating, instead of inhaling your soup while working at your desk.

Jade Wu, Ph.D., is a clinical health psychologist and host of the Savvy Psychologist podcast. She specializes in helping those with sleep problems and anxiety disorders.

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Starting 2020 with Mindful Self-reflection Practices

By: Other | January 2, 2020

Written by Kimberly Nenemay, Psy.D.

The end of the year and the decade presents a natural pause to take time for self-reflection. One can reflect by asking questions such as “did this go as planned?” or “did this go right?” We may find ourselves thinking in black and white terms such as “did I have a good year or a bad one?”

What if we use mindfulness instead as a tool for self-reflecting? Mindful reflection allows one to reflect without judgment but with curiosity and openness to our experiences, thoughts, feelings, and actions.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness originated in Eastern thought and philosophy espousing the idea of being fully present and in the moment to one’s experience with acceptance and without judgment. Within psychology, practitioners utilized the concept since the 1970s and became more mainstream over the past several years. In the mindful state, one does not worry about the past or the future but does accept the present moment’s experience. As a psychologist, I often work with clients using mindful practices to ease the stress and anxiety of everyday life or worries about the past or the future.

So, how would we use mindfulness when we reflect on our past year and decade while looking into the future? Hello 2020!

Self-reflection

We define self-reflection as a “meditation or serious thought about one’s character, actions, and motives” or “careful thoughts about one’s own behavior and beliefs.” Adding a self-reflective component to a mindfulness practice can enhance the experience of assessing our thoughts, behaviors, motives, and the resulting consequences in our lives.

Learning from the Past

Essential components to growing and learning include the ability to learn from our past. Adding a mindful concept to the practice of self-reflection adds a layer of acceptance and non-judgment. Not in the sense of accepting one’s own behavior to rationalize away the need for change but rather changing through more acceptance and non-judgment. In this way, we enhance our ability to move forward without shame or guilt.

Enhancing Relationship with Self

Change can only start by looking within. Through mindful self-reflection, one begins to live a life more in line with one’s value system. How often do we hear about those who felt joy and freedom after taking the leap to leave a soul-sucking job or an unhealthy relationship that no longer served them? Brené Brown writes in her book entitled Rising Strongly about the process of “being brave, falling and getting back up.” Through extensive research, she learned that people who rise “are not afraid to lean into discomfort.” Through self-reflection, we can begin to lean further into these areas of discomfort and perhaps lead more authentic lives.

Enhancing Relationships

Through mindful self-reflection, we can not only enhance our relationship with ourselves but with others. Through questioning, you can begin to assess your relationships with others. “Do I treat others as I would want to be treated?” When looking within, and when there are points to change, one can then begin to take action and change how we interact with others. In turn, relationships can become more fulfilling, in turn making ourselves happier. Relationships wherein you can trust and lean-on others have proven to enhance the sense of happiness in life.

Questions for Self-reflection :

• Do I live up to my value system? If not, why not? If so, what allowed me to do this?
• Do I surround myself with people who uplift me and my values? If not, what holds me back? If so, how do I express my gratitude to the people within those relationships?
• Am I a model of behavior and value systems for my children? If not, what can I do to change this?
• Are there areas of my life that have not worked well for me? Are there areas of my life that HAVE worked well?
• Am I happy in my career? If not, how can I make my work experience better for me? Do I need to start the process of changing careers?
• Do I take care of myself? If not, why not? How can I add self-care to my daily practice?

These represent only a few examples of questions to ask yourself. By being in the moment with a daily mindfulness practice, you begin to become more in tune with yourself and others. We often live on auto-pilot with the pressures of modern life. Only when we slow down can we fully appreciate those little moments. With self-reflection we can make changes or continue the practices that lead us to live happier lives.

As we begin the year 2020, I invite you to pause, reflect, and reset. An enhanced mindful practice can surely lead you to a healthy, happy, peaceful New Year and decade to come!

Image:  *natalia altamirano lucas*  on flickr  and reproduced under  Creative Commons 2.0

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• How Mindful Are You? Take This Easy 10 Question Quiz to Unlock Your Answer

Are you living in the present moment or constantly lost in your thoughts? Discover how mindful are you with this quiz

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by  Kylie Green

April 1, 2023

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get swept up in the hustle and bustle of daily life and forget to stay present in the moment. Mindfulness is the practice of intentionally paying attention to the present moment without judgment. Practicing mindfulness can have numerous benefits for your mental and physical health, including reduced stress, improved mood, better sleep quality, and increased focus. Take our quiz to discover your mindfulness level and learn how to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine.

How Mindful Are You Quiz

Answer the following questions with a “yes” or “no.”

• Do you find yourself lost in thought while doing everyday tasks?
• Do you eat meals without paying attention to the taste, texture, and aroma of the food?
• Do you check your phone or email frequently throughout the day?
• Do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night?
• Do you find yourself reacting emotionally to situations before thinking things through?
• Do you rush through tasks without taking the time to do them mindfully?
• Do you often feel stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed?
• Do you engage in distractions such as TV or social media to avoid uncomfortable feelings?
• Do you often forget things because your mind is preoccupied with other thoughts?
• Do you feel disconnected from the people around you?

Give yourself 1 point for each “no” answer and 0 points for each “yes” answer.

0-3 points: You have room for improvement in your mindfulness practice. Don’t worry; it’s never too late to start. With some practice and dedication, you can become more mindful and reap the benefits of living in the present moment.

4-7 points: You are somewhat mindful, but there’s still room for improvement. Consider incorporating mindfulness practices into your daily routine, such as meditation or mindful breathing exercises.

8-10 points: You are very mindful! Congratulations! Keep up the good work and continue to cultivate mindfulness in your life.

What Is Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment without judgment. It involves paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations without getting caught up in them. Mindfulness can be practiced formally through meditation or informally throughout the day.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Mindfulness has numerous benefits for both mental and physical health. Some of these benefits include reduced stress and anxiety, improved mood and happiness, increased focus and attention, improved sleep quality, reduced symptoms of depression, improved immune function, lower blood pressure, and improved relationship satisfaction.

How to Practice Mindfulness

There are many ways to practice mindfulness, including meditation, mindful breathing, body scan, and mindful movement. Meditation involves sitting in a comfortable position and focusing your attention on your breath or a specific sensation in your body. When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breath. Mindful breathing involves taking a few deep breaths and focusing your attention on the sensation of the air entering and leaving your body. Body scan involves lying down and focusing your attention on each part of your body, starting at your toes and working your way up to your head. Mindful movement involves engaging in activities such as yoga, tai chi, or walking meditation while paying attention to the sensations in your body.

Common Obstacles to Mindfulness

While mindfulness can have many benefits, it can also be challenging to practice consistently. Some common obstacles to mindfulness include busy schedules, distractions, judgment, and resistance. However, even taking a few minutes each day to practice mindfulness can make a big difference.

Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Mindfulness doesn’t have to be limited to formal meditation practice. You can also practice mindfulness throughout your day by bringing attention to your daily activities. Mindful eating involves paying attention to the taste, texture, and aroma of your food. Savor each bite and eat slowly. Mindful walking involves taking a walk and focusing your attention on the sensations in your body as you move. Mindful listening involves really listening to what someone is saying without interrupting or getting distracted. Mindful cleaning involves focusing your attention on the physical sensations of the activity rather than getting lost in thought.

Mindfulness and Technology

While technology can be a valuable tool in many areas of our lives, it can also be a hindrance to mindfulness. Setting boundaries can be helpful, such as specific times of the day for checking email or social media to avoid being constantly distracted by notifications. Giving yourself regular breaks from technology throughout the day is also helpful. When using technology, try to do so mindfully by focusing your attention on the task at hand rather than getting lost in a sea of distractions.

Mindfulness and Relationships

Practicing mindfulness can have a positive impact on your relationships with others. Listen mindfully when having a conversation with someone, really listening to what they’re saying without interrupting or getting distracted. Try to see things from the other person’s perspective and approach the situation with compassion and understanding. Express gratitude towards the people in your life for the positive impact they have on you.

Can anyone practice mindfulness?

Yes, anyone can practice mindfulness. It’s a skill that can be developed over time with practice.

How long does it take to see benefits from mindfulness?

The benefits of mindfulness can be experienced immediately, but they tend to be more significant with regular practice over time.

Do I need to meditate to practice mindfulness?

No, there are many ways to practice mindfulness beyond meditation, such as mindful breathing or mindful movement.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Mindfulness is a powerful practice that can have a positive impact on many areas of your life. Take the quiz to discover your mindfulness level and start your mindfulness journey today! By incorporating mindfulness practices into your daily routine, you can experience reduced stress, improved relationships, and greater overall well-being. Remember, mindfulness is a skill that can be developed over time, so don’t worry if you’re just starting. With some practice and dedication, you can become more mindful and reap the benefits of living in the present moment.

About the author 

Kylie Green

Blogger for Mindfulrevelations Kylie Green was born and raised just outside New York City. Kylie values being present and at the moment because life is short. If she isn’t spending time with her friends and family, you can almost always find her meditating outside in nature. Mindfulrevelations is her passion project and wishes to fulfill her dream of building a spiritually-driven community.

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7 Lessons From my Journey With Mindfulness

Growing up, I was a rule-following overachiever.

I got good grades, played competitive sports, invested time in extra-curricular activities. My efforts were directed towards a clear goal: get accepted at a good college.

It was always the overarching goal, because I thought life worked like this:

• Follow the rules and do what you’re told
• Go to a good school
• Get a good job
• Be happy and have a good life!

It made sense at the time, so I followed the approved path forward .

And for the most part, things went as planned! I attended a prestigious university, loved my time there, and graduated with a covetable job-offer in hand!

After graduating college, things were still going according to plans. I was in a relationship, moved to an exciting city for work, and had a solid network of friends.

But in the many months that followed, this lovely picture of adult life seemed to fall apart piece by piece.

• My relationship came to an abrupt and surprising end.
• I was nearly laid off from my job, and amidst financial difficulties, my work environment became extremely stressful.
• My closest friends moved to cities across the country.
• A nagging knee injury started causing me pain and discomfort in daily life.

I had always thought of myself as an upbeat and optimistic person.

But the dominant emotions I felt in this time were fear , anxiety , and  self-doubt.

My physical health, social life, and career all felt threatened.

Amidst this uncertainty, I questioned everything that I once took for granted:

• Is this really the path I want to pursue?
• What am I passionate about?
• What does it mean to find fulfillment?
• What do I actually care about in life?
• What am I really good at?
• What’s the point of it all?
• How did everything change so quickly?

I was in a tailspin. Everything around me felt like it was falling apart .

So I did the only thing that made sense at the time: made an all-out commitment  to focusing on getting myself to a better spot.

Committing to Myself

I had never made my well-being a top priority, but I knew I needed to start figuring out what that meant.

I didn’t really know where I was going (or what I was doing) so I took things one step at a time.

First off, to overcome my knee injury, I started doing yoga. It helped me develop greater strength and flexibility, which lessened the issues with my knee.

So I kept at it! And after a little while, I realized that yoga was also helping me out in other ways.

No matter how I felt going into it, I’d come out of a yoga class feeling both peaceful and energized.

I started becoming more  aware  of how my body felt when I did different things throughout the day. I came to understand myself and my abilities more clearly, so I could make better decisions.

That added awareness prompted me to make other changes in my weekly routine.

• I shifted my diet to eat more nutritious foods that gave me energy.
• I started doing more strength training, which made me feel happier and more capable.

It felt like I was on the right path ! Slowly but surely, I was making progress!

…But I still had a long ways to go.

At this time, I didn’t have any systems, tools, or habits  for dealing with the aftershocks of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty that continued to shake me in daily life.

A close friend kept encouraging me to try meditation. Although I had read about it online, at the time I was resistant  to the idea. “Meditation” was a loaded word  in my mind. I associated it with monks in monasteries, and spaced-out hippies who were disconnected from reality.

It didn’t feel like something that was right for me .

But then my friend made a comparison that changed my perspective forever.

The Reframe That Shifted my Perspective

I remember exactly where we were, eating bibimbap in a small Korean restaurant in Chicago.

The subject of meditation came up during dinner. After expressing my hesitations and skepticism, my friend said the following:

“You go to the gym and exercise to train your body, right?

Well,   a few decades ago, nobody exercised like that …You wouldn’t see people jogging down the road together, or lifting weights in a gym. But over time it became clear that exercise makes you healthier. So people started to do it. Eventually, it became common sense.

The same thing is happening now with meditation. Meditation is training for your mind , like lifting weights is training for your body.

Although meditation isn’t as commonplace as fitness yet, hundreds of studies have shown the benefits of meditation.

Meditation is going through the same progression that fitness went through a few decades ago! It’s only a matter of time before training your mind is just as widely practiced as training your body.”

He had me speechless . I had never thought about meditation as training for my mind!

The other side of his comparison was obvious: I knew  that working out was good for my body. At the time, I had just started re-experiencing the benefits of working out through my newly developed yoga and strength training routines.

When I worked out, I gained new abilities, and felt better in every way.

Could the same be true for my mind with meditation?

“Just try it for yourself,” my friend added at the end of his story. “You can be judge. But only if you give it a go. ”

Committing to Meditation

The more I thought about his remarks, the more it made sense.

I started to connect the dots with the mental benefits I’d experienced from yoga, like the added awareness it gave me.

After making those connections, I was committed to giving meditation a go.

But  as you read last Sunday , meditation did not come easy to me.

I knew there were benefits to it, but I struggled in execution. I’d forget, make excuses, put it off til later, and make no progress…

It took me months  of trial and error to string together a consistent practice in the beginning.  But eventually, the right pieces did come together. And over time, they’ve evolved into something robust and long-lasting. I’ve built a foundation for a lifelong mindfulness practice.

But looking back, it makes a lot of sense why I made the mistakes that I did when getting started:

• I had no accountability
• I had nobody to teach me the fundamentals
• I had no support for when I stumbled
• I had nobody to ask questions when I felt confused

If you find yourself in a similar place, and want a sustainable way to build your mindfulness practice, enroll in the beta-launch of Mindful Every Day .

I’m offering it at a discounted price until tomorrow night, Friday, July 29th at 11:59PM. After that, enrollment will be closed . Spots are limited, so act quickly.

7 Lessons From my Mindfulness Journey (Thus far…)

As I spent this time looking back at the beginning of my journey, it struck me how far I’ve come.

I started thinking about what I’ve learned since first hearing about mindfulness in 2014. I hope these lessons will be motivating for you to commit to your own practice.

1. It’s never going to be the *right* time

You will always be able to come up with excuses not to meditate.

The question is: Will you give in to those excuses?

Or will you commit to giving it a go?

At some point, you need to decide that you are committed to living mindfully. You have that option right now.

If I never committed to practicing meditation, I’m not sure I’d have any sort of legitimate practice today.

2. Consistency Reinforces any Commitment

Committing to something is the first step. Without staying consistent with your practice, commitment doesn’t mean anything.

Once you’ve planted the seed of a behavior with your commitment, daily action is the best way to nourish it.

When you’re getting started with meditation, all it takes is 5-10 minutes a day to make great progress.

3. Mindfulness Isn’t All About You

One of the most compelling reasons to practice mindfulness is that it helps you put more good into the world.

Although the act of meditation is a necessarily inwardly-focused process, the impact of you practicing mindfulness doesn’t end with you.

When you carry yourself with greater peace, awareness, and compassion, everyone around you feels the benefits. Reminding yourself of this helps you stay committed.

4. Mindfulness is a Gift That Keeps on Giving

You don’t need to be a meditation expert to start experiencing the benefits of meditation.

But that doesn’t mean the benefits will run out once you’ve solidified your understanding and practice of the basics.

There’s always more to learn and experience. I’ve been committed to mindfulness for a number of years, but still know that I’m at the very beginning of a lifelong journey.

( Side note : I feel the exact same way about my physical practice…There’s always more strength, flexibility, and control to develop in the body! It’s an endlessly rewarding journey.)

5. The Challenge of Mindfulness Doesn’t go Away

Once you have the ball rolling, it’s much easier to stay consistent. And sitting in meditation feels more comfortable over time.

But despite any those changes, mindfulness still requires effort and intention. The natural tendency of the mind is to wander. That doesn’t really change.

It doesn’t matter where you are in life, or how experienced you are with meditation. The exercise maintains it’s challenge.

This can feel daunting when you’re getting going with the practice…But in reality, it’s what makes the practice so rewarding!

6. Mindfulness Impacts Every Part of Your Life

Everything you experience in life is shaped by your mind.

I could dig into the scientific research that’s been conducted to illustrate the benefits of meditation. But the anecdotal evidence might be more powerful.

I’m not a very boastful person. But I’m proud of how my mindfulness practice has helped me grow.

Here are some of the most significant changes I’ve experienced as a result of my mindfulness practice. I’m…

• Better at focusing , and less prone to distractions and procrastination.
• More grateful and appreciative  for the countless good things about the life I live.
• Clear on what matters to me most …my priorities and values.
• Better at recovering  when I hit the inevitable pot-holes, rough patches, and challenges in life.
• More adept at recognizing potential issues   before  they become an issue.
• More comfortable with discomfort , and am able to work through it more effectively.
• More present , more often.
• More honest with myself and others. I care most about seeing things as they are  instead of grasping for “good” things and rejecting “bad” things.

With all of that in mind, I am   so   far from perfect  in all of these areas of life…And I’m not trying to be!

All I care about is taking steps in the right direction. And practicing mindfulness has been instrumental in making that happen.

7. You’ll Make it Farther With Support

Mindfulness starts with you, but that doesn’t mean you should go it alone. Getting support and guidance from those who have done it before you will speed up your learning process.

There are many ways to self-guide your learning journey through books, videos, podcasts, blogs, etc.

But if you’d like a more guided approach, enroll in Mindful Every Day  before time runs out .  ( Enrollment ends tomorrow night , Friday July 29th at 11:59PM.)

I’m not the most experienced mindfulness teacher out there. But I have learned a ton through my own practice, research, writing, and 1:1 coaching.

I designed this course to help you  avoid the missteps and roadblocks I ran into in my journey.

Your Journey Starts When You Commit to it

It doesn’t matter where you are when you get started with meditation. All that matters is committing to the practice.

If you’re feeling great, know that training your mind when the seas of life are calm will help you weather the storms more effectively. (And there will always be unexpected storms in life.)

If you’re in more of a low point, know that the way out of a rut is small steps .

Wishing you all the best as your journey continues!

100 Mindfulness Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best mindfulness topic ideas & essay examples, 🔎 good essay topics on mindfulness.

• 👍 Simple & Easy Mindfulness Essay Titles

❓ Mindfulness Research Questions

• Mindfulness as a Practice in Therapy and Daily Life The Western definition of mindfulness, utilized in the psychology field, is the act of paying attention in a way that focuses on the purpose of presence in the moment and a non-judgmental approach.
• Mindfulness and Improvement of Life It is important to recognize the innate origin of the problem while the agent that triggers the suffering is external, the root cause is internal, as is the preferred intervention.
• Mindfulness Meditation to Reduce Nursing Stress Levels This project will discuss nurse stress and the implementation of mindfulness meditation sessions as a main intervention for its reduction. Nurse stress should no longer be ignored, and the effect of mindfulness meditation may be […]
• Mindfulness’ Role in Mental Health Promotion With the incorporation of mindfulness into therapy, one will be able to reduce stress by promoting active health education and learning to a patient.
• Mindfulness Practice During Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer She discusses the significance of the study to the nursing field and how nurses can use the findings to help their patients cope with stress.
• Mindfulness Programs in Business It is essential to bring and establish mindfulness in the workplace. Mindfulness in the workplace campaign consists of the practice by the participants towards the tendency to listen to their language, being available, being patient, […]
• Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation for Mental Health At the age of 10, Maria was raped, and after that, the patient began to engage in prostitution to help her family financially since her mother and grandmother could not support everyone.
• “Mindfulness Interventions in the Treatment of PTSD” by Williston The primary purpose of that article is to conduct a survey of meta-analyses related to the efficiency of cognitive behavioral therapy.
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Workplace What are the weakness of the study and how can it be improved. According to I/O psychologist work is done to obtain productivity and to improve the quality of life of the clients.
• Mindfulness Approach for a Sentenced Female Client From the mindfulness perspective, Sophie remains attached to some of her issues from the past, not willing to identify her attachment to the past and accept reality as it is.
• Mindfulness Meditation Program and Nursing Outcomes The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of the discussed technique on nursing within twelve weeks. The aim was to determine whether such a technique could alleviate work-related stress in the case […]
• Mindfulness Meditation Program for Nurses It would be wrong to assume that the methods of stress management lying in the plane of awareness and meditation practices are limited to a small list of strategies.
• Mindfulness Meditation and Nurse During the Pandemic The plan for the education of nurses within the scope of the theme might be formulated as follows. It is also claimed that there will be no need to encourage nurses to practice meditation because […]
• Mindfulness Program for Nurses During a Pandemic Should the need to have several children in the study arise, the most ethical strategy is ensuring that their parents and guardians are aware of the process or involved.
• Translational Science Model for a Mindfulness Program In the Doctor of Nursing Practice project, it is necessary to choose a policy or an intervention and demonstrate its impact on the health of the population through various quality improve models and frameworks.
• Mindfulness Meditation Intervention for Nurses on Frontlines Against Covid-19 Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses face additional challenges in terms of increasing working hours and overall stress caused by high patient mortality Nurses are under significant pressure, mindfulness meditation program significantly alleviates psychological stress A […]
• Mindfulness-Based Stress and Burnout Reduction in Nurses The qualitative stage of the study involved the analysis of 46 documents that were used to collect data from the study participants.
• Existential and Mindfulness Approaches In addition, interpersonal therapy supports all the articulation of the concepts of a client such as dreams, free relationships, and fantasies, from where the psychotherapist develops the status of the unconscious disagreements that leads to […]
• Mindfulness Meditation Therapy in Depression Cases The paper discusses the issue of the importance of new approaches to depression treatment due to the prevailing rate of the disorder in the sphere of mental problems.
• Acceptance and Commitment vs. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy I will critique each therapy through a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses, and I will give reasons for concluding that one is better than the other.
• Anxiety Disorder: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction The researcher aims to use the tools suggested by Majid et al.and Hoge et al.to evaluate the levels of anxiety in the patient at the beginning of the intervention, during, and after it.
• Mindfulness Meditation for Chronic Pain Treatment Due to the qualitative nature of the research, the research questions are not specified in the article. Both the research questions and the purpose of the study are related to the identified clinical problem.
• Positive Psychology: Emotions, Mindfulness, Growth For instance, the study related to the influence of the psychology of the practice extends the impact of positive emotions while increasing the level of hope and significance of positive communications and gratitude.
• Mindfulness Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder It is important to introduce the patient to the mindfulness intervention as early as possible by inviting him to take part in a 5-minute mindfulness-of-breath exercise in order to note particular reflections about the nature […]
• How Mindfulness and Mental Depletion Influence Inattentional Blindness Mindfulness and mental depletion also affect inattentional blindness in the cases of repetition of the scene and the perceptions held by the individual.
• Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: Insights From Neurobiological, Psychological, and Clinical Studies
• Adolescents Mindfulness and Psychological Distress: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation
• Mindfulness and Holistic-Based Practices Effects on Overall Health in Adolescents
• Age, Pain Intensity, Values-Discrepancy, and Mindfulness as Predictors for Mental Health
• Psychological and Ecological Well-Being Compatibility: Role of Values, Mindfulness, and Lifestyle
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Its Effects on Depression
• Being There: The Role of Mindfulness in the Entrepreneurial Process
• Benefits Associated With Mindfulness in the Workplace
• Bifactor Analysis and Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire
• Broadening Management Bandwidth Through Organizational Mindfulness
• Business Model Innovation and Organisational Mindfulness as Determinants of Corporate Sustainability
• Cognitive and Interpersonal Functions of Mindfulness
• The Role of the Mindfulness in Enhancement of Critical Thinking
• Mindfulness Training for Reducing Anger, Anxiety, and Depression in Fibromyalgia Patients
• Creating High-Reliability Organizations Using Mindfulness
• Cultural Intelligence and Mindfulness in French Banks Operating in the U.S.
• Debiasing the Mind Through Meditation: Mindfulness and the Sunk-Cost Bia
• Deconstructing the Emotion Regulatory Properties of Mindfulness
• Effects of Mindfulness Meditation and Psilocybin in the Treatment of Depression
• Dispositional Mindfulness and Subjective Time in Healthy Individuals

👍 Simple & Easy Mindfulness Essay Title

• Distinguishing Dispositional and Cultivated Forms of Mindfulness: Item-Level Factor Analysis
• Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness: Relation in the Classroom With Adolescents
• Exploring The Link Between Mindfulness and Meditation
• Five Mindfulness Activities That Can Improve Mental Health
• The Link Between Focus, Mindfulness, and Using a Smartphone
• Frontal Theta Dynamics During Response Conflict in Long-Term Mindfulness Meditators
• Functional Brain Changes During Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Associated With Tinnitus Severity
• Gratitude and Athletes’ Life Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Mindfulness
• The Mediation Effects of Green Mindfulness and Green Self-Efficacy
• Grief, Mindfulness and Neural Predictors of Improvement in Family Dementia Caregivers
• How Mindfulness Can Help Prevent Binge Episodes
• Internal and External Factors That Affect Mindfulness
• Does Mindfulness Affect Biological Pathways in Multiple Sclerosis?
• Long-Term Physical Exercise and Mindfulness Practice in an Aging Population
• Mindful Creativity: The Influence of Mindfulness Meditation on Creative Thinking
• An Indirect Path From Mindfulness to Ecological Behavior
• Mindfulness, Age, and Gender as Protective Factors Against Psychological Distress
• Psychoeducational Group Leadership: Mindfulness of Breathing
• Relationship Between Mindfulness, Benevolence, and Life
• When Mindfulness Interacts With Neuroticism to Enhance Transformational Leadership
• How Can an Evidence-Based Mindfulness Training Program Promote Psychological Well-Being?
• Can Mindfulness Training Improve Performance on Attention Tasks in Youth?
• Why Is Mindfulness Meditation Gaining So Much Popularity?
• How Does Mindfulness Training Improve Working Memory?
• Is Mindfulness Training Effective for Improving Attention Regulation in Students?
• Are Subjective and Oxytocinergic Responses to Mindfulness Related to Subjective and Oxytocinergic Responses to Sexual Arousal?
• How Does the Role of Mindfulness Relate to Negotiation Effectiveness?
• What Does Mindfulness Mean as a Therapy in Positive Psychology?
• Is There a Relationship Between Trait Mindfulness and Sleep Quality in College Students?
• How Are Mindfulness and Climate Sustainable Adaptation Related?
• What Are the Key Aspects of Mindfulness?
• How Does Mindfulness Training Work to Reduce Anger, Anxiety, and Depression in Patients With Fibromyalgia?
• What Is Stress Through Mindfulness Methods?
• How Strong Is the Relationship Between Maternal Warmth and Adolescent Mindfulness?
• What Is Mindfulness Practice for Improving Learning Outcomes?
• Is There a Relationship Between Mindfulness and Subjective Happiness?
• How Does Regular Mindfulness Meditation Practice Improve Electrophysiological Markers of Attentional Control?
• What Does a Moderated Mediation Model of Mindfulness Look Like?
• Can Prosocial Behavior Moderate the Relationship Between Rumination and Mindfulness?
• How Can Mindfulness Enhance Leadership Effectiveness?
• Does Short-Term Meditation Training Promote Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation?
• Is Teaching Buddhist Philosophy Involving Mindfulness Popular?
• Does Mindfulness Meditation Impair Task Motivation or Performance?
• What Is the Difference Between Traditional and Modern Mindfulness?
• How Does Mindfulness Training for Healthy Aging Affect Attention, Well-Being, and Inflammation?
• What Is the Basis for Understanding the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Mindfulness?
• How Does Mindfulness Meditation Help Keep Readers With Dyslexia and ADHD on the Lexical Track?
• What Is the Integrative Perspective of Traditional Meditation, Mindfulness, and the Psychodynamic Approach?
• How Does Mindfulness Meditation Modulate Attentional Resources?
• What Does Current Research on Mindfulness Training Show for People With Dementia and Their Carers?
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Jon Heydenreich | The Mindful Minute: Do You Hear What I Hear

• By Jon Heydenreich
• Sep 3, 2024

I am convinced that the crowd we hang out with... the messages we hear... the material we consume... can have an effect on how we experience this gift of life.

If I am with people who are prone to critique others, or who complain one day about one thing and then the next day about another... it takes a dollop of discipline to maintain my self. It is easy to succumb to the temptation to join in. They will have a comrade and we are one. At some psychological level we are validating their way of seeing and relating to others.

I also think it is our nature to “look” for problems. The caveperson who swoons over the flowers and does not pay attention to the lion, gets devoured. Those “look for trouble” genes can keep us alive. Only life has changed dramatically and such danger, so prominent in the past thousands of years, is not as pressing in the modern age. But we still have those genes and their tendencies.

Be mindful of the messages we consume – and the messages we produce. It takes a conscious effort to live in the goodness of our days.

Jon Heydenreich is pastor at Brattleboro’s Trinity Lutheran Church.

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Becoming a “mindful drinker” changed my life

The controversial term may be new, but the goal is the same: Drink less. And I do.

by Derek Brown

Alcohol isn’t really all that good for you. It certainly wasn’t always good for me. Though I used to joke that without it I wouldn’t have a job, friends, or a hobby, I now teetotal most of the week and drink cocktails, whiskey, and wine infrequently.

Everything about that goes against the way I make my living as a spirits and cocktail expert, author, and bar owner. I don’t think everything we do has to be “good for you.” Neither should everything we do lead us down a fiery path of ruination. Lately, I’m more than content with a few fingers of bourbon followed by a drink without alcohol. And, when I indulge, it’s still with the guardrails on.

These days, my approach may actually be in vogue. We’re steeped in discussions of sober curiosity, soberishness, and hip sobriety, terminology that all spears the same fish: Drink less. This is spawning both a philosophical movement whose adherents have holidays (Dry January and Sober October) and is creating an industry through sober influencers ; nonalcoholic beer , wine , and “spirits” ; dry bars ; dry events ; and sophisticated cocktails without alcohol . Let’s call it mindful drinking.

“Mindful drinking is a nice catchall term for anyone who might be thinking about their drinking in some way,” argues Laura Willoughby, co-author of How to Be a Mindful Drinker: Cut Down, Stop for a Bit, or Quit. “They either don’t drink for religious reasons, they’re not drinking because they’re pregnant, they’re cutting down, they never drank very much, they’ve never drunk, … any of those things.”

Willoughby doesn’t drink, but Jussi Tolvi, with whom she co-founded Club Soda in the UK, is a moderate mindful drinker. Both fit within the model. Willoughby describes the term mindful drinking in the way the LGBTQ movement uses “queer”: as an umbrella term for a range of sexual orientations and gender identities. “I don’t see changing your drinking as linear, I don’t see it as binary,” says Willoughby.

The movement may be controversial, in that it differs from the most widely accepted model of sobriety. It also overlaps with the wellness industry that is a $4.2 trillion market worldwide . But not everyone conforms to that model and, well, I want to be well, wellness aside. There are plenty of people who don’t drink for a variety of reasons, and many of us who question our relationship with alcohol might not need to join a group in a church basement or phone a friend when we’re out on the town. For those of us in the gray areas, mindful drinking might be just what we need.

I thought about drinking long before I took a single sip. My father is a diagnosed alcoholic and is in recovery. He left my family when I was a toddler. I still have flashes of us wrestling on the floor, roughhousing. Afterward, he’d hoist me on his shoulders, this giant, invincible man. I remember little more from that time, maybe purposely, except the afternoons I waited hours for him to pick me up for the weekend. He’d call and say he was on his way, but he wasn’t coming.

As a young teen, I abhorred drinking, pledging to be sober for life — a reaction to my father, to be sure. But that changed as I got older. I discovered drinking at parties in high school, and when the party was over, I’d ride around the block with my friends looking for low-lit cul-de-sacs where we’d drink more, smoke pot, and do psychedelics. For some people, drinking and drugs were a way to relax and even achieve a higher consciousness. For me, they were a way to obliterate it.

It wasn’t long before I found people who felt the same as me. They were restaurant workers, a band of misfits united by the construction of our outer layer: a brick wall of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs, sprinkled with casual sex and a complete disregard for propriety. I also found my career, one that I’m proud of despite whatever latent psychological forces shaped it.

By then I had split drinking into two extremes: Drink with abandon or don’t drink at all. The former followed me into my career, which seemed to dictate that I spend many intemperate weeks drinking, professionally and recreationally; and the latter, which sprang up from time to time and hung over my head from my days as a youth keenly aware of the ravages of alcohol.

I drank or didn’t drink. There was no middle ground.

I would later be diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. The statistical correlation between bipolar II disorder and alcohol abuse is high , and I lived it. Drinking was a way to make it through the mood swings, impulsivity, risk-taking, and racing thoughts, all of which were sheathed in the appearance of a high-functioning individual. Through drunkenness, I convinced myself that I was well, even happy, that my charms outweighed my faults when my faults were on egregious display. The next morning told a different story.

I can’t remember all the dumb things I did drunk, but I remember one night inventing a game called “Shakespeare Throw a Chair.” The object of the game was to say a Shakespeare quote and then launch the chair across the room in the back of my bar. My business partner sat me down the following week and said, “About this Shakespeare thing ...” I recoiled. In the light of day, the game was embarrassingly stupid. And perhaps that was one of my more innocent drunken ribaldries.

When I woke up the day after a drinking bout, I felt a constant and abiding shame. Had I said something dumb? Had I done something I should regret? There were times I texted people to ask what happened. There were other times I just stuck my toe in with a text reading, “Good times.” But they weren’t always good times, and often I was terrified of my friends’ possible responses. Perhaps that compounded my need to drink, explaining why one drunken night was likely followed by another. (You can see the flawed logic in that pursuit.) I would sometimes be drunk for the stretch of a week.

Hangovers became a certainty. I needed a care pack: ibuprofen, Gatorade, and ramen. When you’re stocking hangover remedies for the inevitable, not the probable, is without a doubt when you should admit that drinking has become a problem. Imagine breaking your toe every morning and stocking up on stick splints and medical tape. Instead, you’re breaking your brain. The gray matter between my ears would suffer the same fate as the chairs launched to exclamations of Hamlet: “To be or not to be — swing , crack — that is the question!”

It wasn’t just my brain I broke. The silly games were one thing, but alcohol would be the abettor of my worst instincts, enabling me to scorch my life before bedfall. I remember chasing a friend around town at night. We drank heavily and went back to the place she was staying, where we were locked out. I don’t even remember how we got in but, when we did, I removed my clothes and tried to climb in her bed. She demurred, possibly something about us being near-blackout drunk. I pulled up my pants, left stumbling, and returned early in the morning to my home, where my pregnant girlfriend had been waiting up all night. I lied about what had happened. I lied about my phone being dead. I lied about everything. But, most importantly, I lied about who I was. I wasn’t a free-spirited man about town; I was an unscrupulous lothario and a wretch.

It eventually all caught up with me after my son was born, and I started to add up the pluses and minuses of alcohol in my life. I realized the red column had become greater than the black. It would take a little more time and convincing, but I finally checked myself into a recovery program that addressed both my mental health and substance use.

The mindful drinking “trend,” make no mistake, is a more expansive model than Alcoholics Anonymous and other abstention programs where it’s all or nothing. While there is no specific definition of alcoholism in AA, its members agree that alcoholism is generally “a physical compulsion, coupled with a mental obsession” and that treatment is not based on willpower alone or creating periods of abstinence. The AA literature spells out this mindset: “We always wound up, sooner or later … getting drunk when we not only wanted to stay sober, but had every rational incentive for staying sober.” In this framework, you either are or you aren’t afflicted by the disease, and the cure is to cease drinking completely. Given this, some sober people are uncomfortable with “curiosity,” downplaying the seriousness of excessive drinking .

But even AA admits that the 12-step program is not the only approach. A spokesperson for AA told the New York Times : “There are lots of different options for getting sober. AA is not trying to convince anyone that AA is the only way to stay sober, we have just found a way that works for us that we share with others.” New approaches to sobriety don’t necessarily replace those programs for people who have committed to abstention, but they offer an alternative for people who believe they fit outside of the traditional model.

Laura Silverman, founder of Booze Free in DC and The Sobriety Collective , a digital hub for sober creatives to socialize, says that “[AA] is good for some people because they need that reminder to physically and psychologically keep them away from dying. For many people, it is a life-and-death thing.” But for her, “I was tired of saying I’m an alcoholic, because I didn’t feel like one,” says Silverman. “I just knew I couldn’t drink safely.” She remains sober but acknowledges the many shades in between abuse and abstention.

“Nowadays, the modern recovering person can pick and choose from a wide variety of things and build their own ‘recovery menu,’ if you will,” according to Silverman. “At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide what your recovery looks like, and it’s up to no one else to make a judgment that [if] you’re in AA you can’t be in Smart [Recovery] , [if] you’re in Smart [Recovery] you can’t be in AA, or you can’t have a therapist, you can’t take medication for your mental health condition. You get to decide what your recovery looks like.”

Whether you’re the person who drinks too much on dates or the hardened alcohol abuser who has set your life ablaze, there’s a spectrum, joined by a need. I needed alcohol. Whether that made me an alcoholic or simply driven by my mental illness, the outcomes are the same: I would die, kill someone, or set a detonator to all my relationships — maybe the hat trick and achieve all three. But without addressing the cause of my drinking, there was little hope of a happy ending. I had to change my pace.

At first, I was uneasy. How would I explain to people that the very thing I evangelized was also my kryptonite? Like Silverman, I didn’t feel like an alcoholic, but I had a problem. I sat down with my business partners and told them I would not be spending as much time at the bars at night. They seemed to understand.

Through therapy and prescription medication, I addressed a lot of what had motivated my drinking sprees. Eventually, I would start drinking again. But it left me in a bind: How would I combine my love of drinking with my need to regulate it? I admit this just isn’t possible for most, but it seemed achievable in my case. I had addressed the psychic forces that polarized drinking for me, lost a taste for the chaos and destruction of my past, and grew in resolve.

In the backdrop of my recovery was the mindful drinking movement. It seemed like the whole country (and many others ) was publicly discussing what it means to drink too much, and new strategies were emerging to address the gray areas. The movement didn’t just give me a convenient label, it offered me another perspective for my recovery, a perspective similar to Chef Dan Barber’s approach to cutting down on meat : Alcohol is no longer the center of my experiences just as much as meat isn’t at the center of all of his plates. It’s more of a side dish or flavoring, and one that I can take or leave.

For me, that means being aware of my intentions at that moment, excising the need. But I haven’t shut alcohol out altogether, because of my vocation and because I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with drinking alcohol. I like drinking culture, and I’m delighted by the new world of no-alcohol cocktails and “spirits.” As a former bartender, it feels like learning a new language where the grammar is remarkably familiar.

What that means is that I can still go out at night and have complex adult drinks. And, honestly, most of the time they don’t have a drop of alcohol in them. I can be at the bars I created and that inspired me, and enjoy the nightlife without plunging myself into the abyss. I can replace negative experiences with positive ones.

I don’t think banning or swearing off alcohol works for everyone. Alcohol may not be good for you, but it can be a force for good. A couple of drinks have preceded some of my most meaningful moments . It may be the ritual itself, but alcohol has a way of fostering connections. Its rewards rival its dangers, which I believe is what makes alcohol so ubiquitous in human history — at least my history. You must adapt to your own circumstances. And, if amid trying to figure it all out, you find yourself lost, stop. There’s absolutely not one reason why you should be compelled to drink.

It’s not always easy. The pressure still abounds. When I’m not drinking, I just politely decline. And where the decline is declined, I say I’m driving, or I say something about antibiotics or surgery, or I drop the shot in a water glass when they’re not looking. It’s a silly thing, really. Why wouldn’t we trust a grown person to say what they do and don’t want? Hopefully, the mindful drinking movement will provide the best excuse of all: I don’t want to, and that’s my choice.

There will be no shortage of critics . But this article isn’t for them. No, I wrote this essay for you . We might have different reasons why we’ve questioned our drinking, but it rests on the same premise.

And perhaps you need to hear this: Alcohol isn’t really all that good for you. I don’t mean that solely as an indicator of certain diseases. I mean, literally, it’s just not good for some of us. But it can be good for most people, and it can even be good for some people where it wasn’t before. That choice isn’t mine to make; it’s yours. Ask yourself: Why do I drink? And if the answer is because you need to drink, then I hope this helps save you some anguish.

Derek Brown is an expert on spirits and cocktails who is based in Washington, DC. He owns the 2017 “Best American Cocktail Bar” from the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, Columbia Room, and is the author of Spirits, Sugar, Water, Bitters: How the Cocktail Conquered the World .

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