What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is about being aware. When you’re being ‘mindful’, you notice and pay attention to what you’re doing, thinking and feeling and what’s going on around you.

It can be hard to stay in the present moment. Our minds can easily wander from what we’re doing to other thoughts and sensations. We can often get caught up in thoughts about what might happen (worries) and what has happened (regrets) or thinking about ‘should haves’ or ‘what if’s’.

We can sometimes spend more time in a thought ‘commentary’ in our heads than being fully engaged in the here and now.

Mindfulness is the act of paying attention and being actively involved in whatever you’re doing with all of your senses.

Practising mindfulness, by taking notice of what’s going on around us or by focusing on our breath, can help us to bring our attention back to the present moment.