Mindfulness in the Modern World

What is all the buzz about mindfulness? Many of us have heard about the importance of being mindful, but how many of us really know what it means? Before the 1970’s, mindfulness only existed in Eastern societies that practiced Buddhist meditation. Personality Testing South Florida It was not until an American professor, Jon Kabat-Zinn, introduced the idea to the West in 1979 that mindfulness began gaining traction as a healing modality. He defined mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” Since the advent of mindfulness in the United States, there has been a wealth of empirical research that has come out in support of these interventions across age, ethnicity, and gender. Research has shown that mindfulness can effectively treat an array of psychological issues, including:

• • Anxiety disorders

• • Depressive disorders

• • Obsessive compulsive disorders

• • Panic disorder

• • Chronic pain

• • Substance use

• • Personality disorders

• • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Contrary to how the name sounds, mindfulness can actually help us decrease the fullness we often feel in our minds and allow us to engage more intimately with the present moment. Through bringing more mindfulness to our moment-to-moment experiences, we feel more connected to our authentic selves and increase feelings of wholeness, appreciation and joy. By engaging with feelings of gratitude and awe our experiences of depression and anxiety can lose power. There are a variety of formal mindfulness practices that are often beneficial to start with but once developed, mindfulness is a skill that can be applied informally to every aspect of your life. Here are a few formal mindfulness practices you can engage in: