Mindfulness means paying full attention to something. It means taking your time to really notice what you're doing.
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! That's mindfulness in action.
Mindfulness helps you do your best at things. It helps you:
Training the mind takes practice. The more you practice mindfulness skills, the better you get at being mindful.
If you practice mindfulness skills, being mindful begins to come naturally when you need it in your everyday life. This can help you feel calmer when you're stressed, or more focused when you have to do something difficult or complicated.
When you practice mindfulness skills, you're training your attention. Practicing mindfulness can improve attention for just about everybody — including people who have ADHD, or who think they have trouble paying attention.
Mindfulness skills are easy to practice and just take 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 that help you practice training your attention.
Reviewed by: D'Arcy Lyness, PhD
Date Reviewed: Nov 17, 2017