Nowadays, many people are focusing on living a healthy lifestyle. However, a healthy lifestyle isn’t just physical fitness; instead, it involves physical and emotional stability to ensure vitality. It includes a nutritious diet, a positive attitude, exercising, or anything that enhances the way you live. Striving for a healthy life will help prevent chronic illnesses and boost your emotional well-being.
One optimal way to practice a healthy lifestyle is through mindfulness. Mindfulness refers to the human ability to be aware of the present situation by keeping bodily sensations, emotions, and thought in check. Mindfulness is an excellent way to manage stress and keep yourself happy and content. Undoubtedly, certain circumstances in life will not always be in our favor. Therefore, practicing mindfulness can give you the power to see and respond to these circumstances differently and optimistically. Are you finding it difficult to practice mindfulness to achieve physical and mental peace? Here’s how you can maintain mindfulness in your life with these core attitudinal foundations:
1. Patience
What is the point of getting impatient if you can’t change the situation? Not every problem or its outcome will be under our control. Therefore, one of the attitudinal foundations of mindfulness is patience. Practice patience in unlikeable situations and let things unfold in their own time. Being impatient will provoke negative emotions in you, including getting agitated, frustrated, nervous, or anxious.
Although, you might want to see the end of the tunnel or wish to speed up a few things in your life. However, practicing mindfulness requires you to be patient and overcome difficulties with calmness. Doing so can help improve your holistic health significantly and enjoy the present moment to the fullest.
2. Non-Judging
Let’s be honest; we judge almost everything at every point of our life. When we closely examine our thought processes, we can find that our mind is constantly in a state of judgment in almost every experience we encounter. The mind is always present to label or categorizes everything you see, feel, or experience. While practicing mindfulness, you must be aware of your mind’s constant flood of judgments. The best way is to take a step back and analyze the situation with an impartial and unbiased perspective. In this manner, you can remain calm and evaluate and respond to the situation appropriately. Remember, your first step is to recognize your judgmental behavior; forcing it to stop can complicate the problem for you in more than one way. Training yourself to be non-judgmental can help develop kindness, empathy, and compassion.
3. Beginner’s Mind
Undeniably, we do not encounter any moment in life that is precisely similar to the previous. Beginner’s mind is the practice of seeing things as if they occur for the first time. These things could be anything; an object, smell of the rain, people’s touch, or anything. A fresh wave of curiosity can help us see things from a positive and new perspective. In this way, you can see things for what they are and forget what you know previously. A beginner’s mind helps you find new possibilities that you might be missing out on and can help you learn and explore the world with a different lens.
4. Trust
Accept your instincts and the emotions you feel. Don’t disregard them just because people around you have a different mindset or belong to another school of thought. Instead of dwelling on self-doubt and paying heed to second thoughts, ponder where they are coming from; what are the reasons behind them? With this mindfulness practice, you will learn to accept the original version of yourself.
To err and learn from mistakes is better than relying on others at every step. You must take charge and regain authority over how you feel. Only then can you decipher your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. In this practice, you start to trust your self-being and take responsibility for all your actions.
5. Non-Striving
The present state matters the most during mindfulness. Live the moment you are in; no goals or targets should cloud your mind. It might seem a bit contradictory because, during meditation, you work on yourself to solve problems and achieve long-term peace. However, it is best to cast off all expectations at the moment. There is nothing wrong with where you are in your life now. If you are in a state of pain, address the pain. If you find yourself judging, notice how your mind led you to it. When you struggle for peace and happiness, you refuse to acknowledge that it is already present. Loosen yourself up, experience how it is to live without any goals, and see how it goes.
6. Acceptance
Non-striving leads to another attitudinal aspect of mindfulness – acceptance. Life is a series of recurring positive and negative experiences. As a human being, sometimes you fail, and sometimes you succeed. Living in a state of denial or forcing things in your life would do no good. It will only worsen the situation. Don’t resist the current situation; instead, accept things as they are. However, in no way it implies to not do anything about it. It does not mean that you remain contented with the current circumstances or tolerate everything that goes around you.
Acceptance provides you with an accurate picture of the present situation and gives you the courage to deal with inner turmoil. If you wish to heal yourself, you need to be kind and show welcomeness to the present state. With acceptance, you see things as they are, not as you want them to be.
7. Letting Go
Mastering the art of letting go can bring immense peace to your life. Holding onto things won’t let you move further. It is human nature that we wish to drag our positive experiences and get rid of negative ones. That is because all of us have a fear of loss. Hanging on to such moments can lead you to anxiety, stress, and exhaustion. Don’t run away or cower back from the challenges or stressful situations that come your way.
Cultivating the practice of letting things go makes you compassionate and kind. With this attitude, you don’t get attached to specific thoughts, feelings, or situations.
Conclusion
With dedication and persistence, you can achieve the highest level of mindfulness. Set aside a specific time each day and practice meditation. Keeping in mind there shouldn’t be any interruptions or distractions so you can have all the time to yourself. Know that the time you dedicate to yourself makes you feel balanced and prepares you to face anything that life might throw at you.
