Calm, Open, Kind
There are lots of ways of thinking about mindfulness but the ones I like have two things going for them:
They are simple to understand.
They have enough detail so that it’s useful in the real world.
I find that breaking mindfulness down into three parts makes this work. Here’s one way of doing that:
Calming yourself down a bit.
Making space for what you are feeling.
Bringing kindness in, to other people and to yourself.
Below is an audio exercise to guide you through this.
Before you do this it’s worth mentioning that there are times when mindfulness may not be the right thing to do. This will depend on your personal circumstances and your experience of mindfulness.
In deciding whether this is right for you, circumstances such as recent bereavement, other major life changes, and some types of previous or ongoing mental illness may mean that this is not the right time for you to engage with this material.
If you have any questions about this, please get in touch.