Mindfulness (or mindfulness) increases our sensitivity to the positive emotions we experience on a daily basis. If it is so closely associated with the notion of well-being, it is because it offers us the possibility of reconnecting with ourselves.
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Mindfulness (also known as Mindfulness Where Mindfulness in English) is the mental state one reaches when one experiences the present moment.
What is Mindfulness?
The world specialist in the discipline, Jon Kabat Zinndefines it himself as the awareness, at any time and without judgmentour thoughts, feelings and physical sensations as well as our environment.
Practicing full presence means focusing on the moment we are living, without thinking about the past or imagining the future. In other words, it’s giving up doing one thing while thinking about another.
The terminology “without judgement” evokes the idea that we focus on our thoughts and emotions without trying to evaluate them, that is to say without asking if there is a good one and a bad one way of living or feeling the present moment. You have to accept it as it is, that’s all.
A daily experience
Every day, we all experience moments of Mindfulness without even knowing it ; by listening to a song that we like, by appreciating the beauty of nature or by practicing an activity that we love.
These experiments may seem trivial at first sight, but they have a very particular interest. They encourage focus on what you’re really doing : in these moments, we don’t think about the past and we don’t worry about the future…
“The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it’s open. »
Frank Zappa
Research in positive psychology have shown that when we take a break to observe the environment or to immerse ourselves in a pleasant activity (it can even be a professional task), we feel good and we gain serenity.
It’s so simple to do that we can multiply these moments of Mindfulness throughout the day.
How to get started?
You can try now:
- Take five breaths depths, then note the subtle movements of your body (especially in the belly) when you inhale and exhale.
- Close your eyes and notice five different noises or sounds that you hear around you.
- In the shower, try to take the time to experience as many sensations as possible: the drops of water on your body, the scent of the soap, the sound of the jet of water, the temperature of the water, the texture of the toilet on your skin…
Every day you can decide turn off “autopilot mode” to experience moments of Mindfulness. Feelings of well-being guaranteed…
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The relationship between mindfulness and happiness
We have seen it, when one enters a state of full presencewe are aware of our thoughts, feelings, movements and behaviors without judging or interpreting them.
It is a practice accessible to all which can be learned through meditation exercisesbut also informal practices during daily activities.
About ten years ago, Dr Killingsworth came up with the idea for the app trackyourhappiness.org to study people’s happiness at any time of the day. How it works is simple: the app randomly sends messages to people
to ask them about their specific activity and their level of happiness at this moment of the day.
It has collected 650,000 recordings from more than 15,000 people, aged 18 to 80, in more than 80 countries around the world. This represented a wide range of individuals with varying incomes, education levels and marital situations.
His conclusion: what makes people happy has much less to do with what they do than with their level of concentration during the activity.
People focused on their experience of the present moment (in other words, people in Mindfulness) are generally happier than those whose mind wanders.
For example, people don’t like going to work very much. They consider it a waste of time. However, they are considerably happier when they are focused on their journey than when their mind is occupied with other thoughts (even when these are directed towards happy and positive things).
