Mindfulness is a practice through which we become aware of our thoughts and gain the ability to become nonjudgmental as emotions, thoughts or experiences arise.
Mindfulness gives us the ability to live our life in a moment-to-moment basis without allowing memories of the past and expectations of the future to affect the experience of what is.
As you focus your awareness on the present moment, you gain the ability to start recognizing and accepting your current state of being. As you recognize what is, you can recognize the thought patterns and actions that no longer serve you and make any changes you see fit.
The moment you begin to acknowledge your feelings, your thoughts, and your bodies sensations, you may learn to accept the state you are in and become empowered to gain control of your thoughts, reactions and overall state of your life.
“When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another – and ourselves” – Jack Kornfield
The ability you have to make your mind for you starts with awareness. As you learn to notice your emotional responses to the situations that you are faced with, you can learn to question your emotional responses before reacting to what comes up.
Take notes of the times when you find yourself going down and unwanted mental path and take charge of whether your thoughts remain there or not. For example, I know that my mind tends to wander into unwanted places when I have long drives in my car (which happens every day).
I prepare for that by having an audiobook ready to play the second I sit down. This now makes my driving time a purposeful time in which I am expanding my mind, instead of wasted time replaying the past or predicting the future.
As you begin to learn to focus your thoughts you can begin to create a state of harmony within your mind. When your mind is in a state of harmony, your thoughts serve your purpose instead of holding you down or lowering your vibration.