S4 Ep16: Mindfulness Isn’t Only About The Mind
The whole body is impacted by active conscious awareness
Everything begins with thought. Thought happens on three levels – unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. The unconscious is how you breathe automatically, digest, blink, and the like. The subconscious mind is where beliefs, values, habits, and memories live. You can access them, but doing so requires a conscious act. The conscious mind is how you engage with the world within and the world without, here and now.
Mindfulness is how you can access the conscious mind, which is how you access your subconscious mind. But it’s also how you do everything that you do. Hence mindfulness isn’t about the mind alone.
You are physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual
Every person on Planet Earth has four elements that define them. These are the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Body, mind, emotion, and soul, if you will. All of these make up the greater whole of everyone and our overall health, wellness, and wellbeing.
The three levels of thought – unconscious, subconscious, and conscious, work in concert all the time.
We are best able to be our most connected selves on every level, here and now, when the elements of our health, wellness, and wellbeing are balanced.
This is why mindfulness isn’t just about the mind.
Mindfulness and health, wellness, and wellbeing
Since everything begins with thought, applied conscious awareness makes perfect sense. After all, if you aren’t clearly aware of your thoughts, all else will gets muddled.
This is why mindfulness isn’t just about the mind. It is also about the body, the soul, and everything else that goes into making you, you. Without active conscious awareness, you cede control. Mindfulness applies to the body and soul because neither can function without the mind.
The sum total of you can be controlled by you via active conscious awareness, here and now. That is mindfulness in action.
Why does being present matter?
Here and now, right this moment, in the present, you can choose who, what, where, how, and why you are.
Mindfulness is your superpower
Via mindfulness and control of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions, you can be, have, or do anything.
Mindfulness, active conscious awareness, is the initiating thought that leads to being the best you that you can be.
Mindfulness isn’t just about the mind. The whole body is impacted by active conscious awareness practice. That superpower is how you can be virtually anything you desire to be. Via mindfulness, you can recognize your options and make conscious, active choices about what paths to walk - or not - to the desired end.
This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool:
Let’s use mindfulness to check in with your body and spirit, rather than your mind. However, this does begin with your mind, since it starts with thought.
Give yourself at least 5 minutes to do this. Begin with one minute of deep breathing in and out to center yourself, and be as calm and present as possible.
That done, ask these questions, here and now. You can choose to write them down or not.
Is my stomach calm, churning, or otherwise unsettled?
Is my heart beating slow or fast?
Do I have any pain anywhere in my body?
Am I experiencing any sense of loss, confusion, uncertainty, or the like?
Do I feel like I’m in control of my life?
Yes, all of these originate in thought and the mind, but they focus on and address the body and spirit. Similar questions can be asked that can also produce mindfulness of your body and spirit, specifically.
Use this tool to better know yourself in all possible ways.
Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com
Original cover art artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations