Mindfulness means paying full attention to something. It means slowing down to really notice what you're doing.
Being mindful is the opposite of rushing or multitasking. When you're mindful, you're taking your time. You're focusing in a relaxed, easy way.
Mindfulness happens naturally sometimes. Let's say you're getting ready to take a foul shot in basketball. You carefully position your feet at the line. You look up at the hoop and feel the ball in your hands. Taking your time, you bounce the ball a couple of times. You tune out all the other sounds and take your shot. Swoosh — yes! Nicely done.
That calm focus, that way of paying attention to what you're doing, taking your time, taking it easy& — that's you being mindful! And being mindful just helped you take your best shot.
Being mindful helps you:
If this sounds like a superpower, it is! Being mindful helps people in just about every part of life. Learning how to be mindful when you're young gives you a chance to get really good at it and use it always.
You need to practice mindfulness to get good at it. Training the mind takes practice. The more you practice, the better you get.
If you practice mindfulness exercises, being mindful can come naturally when you need it in your everyday life. This can help when you're stressed, when you have to do something difficult, or when you have to focus your attention. It's a lot like learning to play the piano. Each time you practice, you're training yourself to play a little bit better.
When you practice mindfulness, you're training your attention. Research shows that practicing mindfulness can improve attention for just about everybody — including people with ADHD, or who think they have trouble paying attention.
Anyone can practice mindfulness. It's easy to do, and it just takes a few minutes a day.
Here are the basic steps:
That's it! There are lots of other ways to practice mindfulness, like eating mindfully or even mindful walking. Try picking different things to focus on to help you practice training your attention.
Reviewed by: D'Arcy Lyness, PhD
Date Reviewed: Nov 17, 2017