Many of us have heard that developing a mindfulness practice supports emotional and physical well-being. Below are six key principles to start or reinvigorate your mindfulness practice and serve as a guide for your own personal practice:
- Non-judging: “Being an impartial witness to your own experience.”
Notice the constant stream of your internal experience including your go to judging thoughts and reactions—and step back. This awareness shows how often we label and categorize experiences and interactions, which can make inner peace and remaining calm harder to implement.
- Patience: “A form of wisdom; it demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.”
Patience means being open and accepting of each moment as it is; and not trying to manipulate or control it.
- Fresh Mind: “Seeing things as if it was the first time.”
Approach each moment with curiosity, and as if it were the first time experiencing it. This openness prevents getting stuck in old patterns, repeating automatic patterns of behavior, and reveals new possibilities and ways to view and handle things.
- Trust: “Developing a basic trust in yourself and your feelings.”
The more you trust yourself, the easier it becomes to trust others. This means listening to your intuition or “inner voice,” knowing when to ask for help when you are unsure, and remembering your self-worth without comparing yourself to anyone else.
- Non-striving: Most things we do have a purpose—to achieve or get somewhere. But in meditation and mindfulness, this goal-oriented attitude becomes an obstacle.
Most activities aim for a goal or outcome, but mindfulness is different. It’s about paying attention to each experience or interaction and letting each moment be, without influencing the outcome. Paradoxically, when we try less, we can simply “be” more.
- Acceptance and Letting Go: “Letting things be. Accepting things as they are.”
Acceptance does not mean giving up your values, tolerating injustice, or abandoning growth. It does mean seeing things as they are, letting go of what you can’t control, and choosing intentional action over reaction. We can observe the experience without our normal attempts at feeling that we must participate in every interaction.
T Pacione, LCSW, CSADC
Deputy Director, Illinois Lawyers’ Assistance Program
Please reach out to LAP if you or someone you know is experiencing mental health or substance use problems. Give us a call at 312-726-6607 or email gethelp@illinoislap.org
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