While I practice mindfulness on a daily basis, the month of May has become synonymous with mindfulness…
Mindful in May was started by Elise Bialylew, an Australian doctor trained in psychiatry…
It’s now the world’s largest online mindfulness fundraising campaign.
So although you can practice mindfulness anywhere, at any time, if you haven’t tried it before, maybe May is a good excuse to do so.
Just taking five minutes to look around and notice things.
It can be physical things around you…
Colours, shapes.
Or it could just be noticing your breath…
And the movement of your body as you breathe in and out.
Looking at the sky and noticing any clouds…
Or listening to the sounds around you.
Feeling the air on your skin.
Noticing your feet on the floor.
Anything.
It’s just about taking a few minutes to stop.
Pay attention to what’s happening right now…
And be aware of it.
Last week I attended an online workshop hosted by Monash University’s Centre For Consciousness and Contemplative Studies…
From Burnout to Balance…
As part of it, the host, Dr Luke Smith, emphasised how mindfulness can help us identify how we are feeling…
If we are stressed etc…
By paying attention to our body and mind.
In turn, this can help us manage our wellbeing and mental health.
He went on to say how our increasing use of digital technology is increasing our workload and our cognitive load…
We have more things to think about…
More tasks to deal with…
Hence we start multitasking… and this can lead to a risk of burnout.
He then shared a ‘thought experiment’ with us…
Which I want to share with you…
Silently (in your head) say the alphabet from A to Z…
(Go on… do it)
Now silently say the numbers from 1 to 26.
Now switch between these… and say A 1, B 2 C 3, etc… in order as quickly as you can…
Hard isn’t it?
I think I gave up at about G 7!
The point being your brain struggles when you multitask…
And this switching attention between things, can lead to overwhelm.
Paying attention to one thing at a time is more efficient…
Hence mindfulness!
Just taking a moment to pause.
Look up…
Notice what you can see, hear or feel….
In that moment.
Let’s all be more mindful this May.
Ann 🙏