What is Mindfulness?

 

Throughout the past couple of years I've been swept under a rock, so to speak, by my depression and mental health issues in general. Over the past year I've learnt to control my feelings a little better, I won't say that I'm perfect because I'm truly far from it but I've developed a set of habits which have successfully kept me a little more positive to the point where they've almost become a part of my life. Mindfulness is a concept that I found incredibly inspiring and also helpful. It basically means (to me at least) devising a number of ways to find peace with yourself, a way of controlling your mental state through finding positive ways to keep your mindset stable and well, combating feelings of stress, depression, anxiety and loneliness. Instead of dwelling on the past or dreading the future, you focus on what's happening in the present and improving the now.

FIND YOURSELF

For me, the hardest thing was starting over; starting a new job and leaving some friends was so difficult. That said, the challenge forced me to leave my comfort zone and pushed me to be the best kind of me. It's still hard some days and it's not easy to start again but sometimes the only way forward is to live and to learn, to move on by focussing on what you have rather than what you have not. As you grow older, you realise the person you were at sixteen, eighteen, even at twenty one is not the person you are now. In ten years time you'll have changed again and that's fine. I've learnt that you have to embrace the positive side of change and use it to your advantage; whether that's changing jobs, learning a new skill or finding a new activity to get involved in.

BE HAPPY

The key to mindfulness is that by making a routine, having some kind of focus you ultimately will find some kind of happiness. Yes, the happiness may not last for every single hour of every single day but you will definitely see an incr are in you ur self esteem. By understanding your self worth, life will suddenly seem possible again. Little things like taking a walk or reading will definitely free up your mind and remind you that it's possible to enjoy life. It's so important to let go and try not to overthink every little thing, as hard as that sounds it's such an important part of recovery. Embracing recovery is part of the journey to happiness. Maybe your happiness is travelling, experiencing new things. Perhaps you'll find happiness in seeking comfort in family and friends, but the important thing is to work out what makes you happy and focus on those things.

ENGAGE IN A HOBBY

One of the main things that has really improved the state of my mental health is finding hobbies; I've found a love in blogging, reading and scrapbooking. The whole point of mindfulness is to use spare time to fill up with enjoyment that keeps the mind busy and leaves no spare time for negative thoughts. My boyfriend recently told me about an article he read about instead of self harming, draw with felt tips in the places you intend to harm as to power your mind and body with the world of distraction which results in positive thinking instead of dwelling on negativie thoughts that don't help anyone. The negativity filters through when you have the time to overthink, finding hobbies will prevent overthinking as they take up your time. Plus, through scrapbooking you can see all of the good times visibly in photographs which helps to notice the good times.