“Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present and at one with those around you and with what you are doing.”
In other words, mindfulness is the ability to focus. With
all of today’s technology, our ability to focus has been quickly diminishing. Instead
of looking people in the eye and giving them our full attention, we are on our
cellphones or on our tablets. Instead of paying attention in class or at work,
our minds are often elsewhere. We are missing out on the simple beauty of human
connection. How does this affect our lives and our state of being?
Well, research has found that the ability to focus also
dictates our ability to control our emotional state. It has been found that
people who have a greater ability to focus, and those who consciously focus are
actually happier. This is because through focusing, these people are able to
block out emotional turbulence for the time being, which means they have more
control over their emotions. They are also less likely to become depressed. On
the other hand, people who day dream often and have trouble focusing are typically
unhappy; they are often thinking of their feelings, past incidences, or even the
future. Not being present in the moment causes people to be dissatisfied with
their work, with their lives and with themselves. This is because people who
lack the control to focus have trouble dealing with their emotions and lack the
ability to fully control them.
Building up the
ability to focus is like building your brain muscles. It takes a little bit of
work. Now, I am not saying that focusing means not wandering off with our
thought and feelings, because this is inevitable. But really strengthening this
ability means being able to bring yourself back; bring your attention back from
your day dream, bring your attention back from what happened last night, bring
your attention back from how you are feeling. Bring your attention back to the
present moment. This is building your ability to focus.
I believe that really focusing and being mindful of the
present moment can lead to a happier and more fulfilled life. One of the
easiest and greatest gifts we can give our loved ones is our attention, and
attention is also one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. We all seek
attention, so it is also up to us to give it. Not only this, but us giving our
full attention to even the little things uplifts our state of being; we become
more grateful and appreciative of the people in our lives and of the life
around us, and we are more attentive to our work and thus achieve more. So many
people in this world just want to be fulfilled and happy… Practicing the art of
mindfulness is definitely an important step in this journey!!
