Thursday, September 19, 2013

Mindfulness


The practice of mindfulness has been gaining increasing attention for its benefits.  If you choose to complete this post for course credit, please do/answer the following:
  • Read this article about mindfulness.
  • In your own words, what is the practice of mindfulness?
  • This article outlines 20 benefits of mindfulness.  Please explain and provide your reaction to five of these benefits.
I would like you to read this article too, but realize that you are busy and articles can get lengthy.  But if you are interested, the article talks about mindfulness decreasing burnout and increasing compassion among doctors.  It's a great way to apply the subject, not only to the upcoming chapter, but the chapter on stress we just discussed.



39 comments:

  1. This article is an excellent example of how social networking is not only stressful to parents due to what their children put on the site, but what other parents are posting on these sites. I honestly can say that I never thought of parents getting stressed over what other parent’s lifestyles are like in a picture. I believe that this article is a very good example of stress on a mother due to trying to achieve that “idealistic” lifestyle that celebrity mothers and other mothers are portraying. I also found it interesting that even celebrity mothers such as Sarah Emily Tuttle have difficulties at home with their children. When looking at magazines, or online articles, these families look so happy all the time. All of them are smiling and putting off the “we are always happy" vibe.

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  2. To me, the practice of mindfulness means to take time to focus on every thought at a distance without judging them good or bad. This will allow a person to get more out of life and be happier while living in the moment not in past or future stressors.

    The first benefit is the fact that mindfulness decreases stress. The article describes that mindfulness actually can result in less of a concentration of the stress hormone cortisol. I believe that this an enormous benefit of being mindful. Stress can lead to many negative things and tax one’s coping mechanisms. High levels of stress have been linked to numerous complications. Therefore, I believe that this is a huge benefit of being mindful.

    The second benefit is that mindfulness lets each person know their true selves. It does this by allowing for a way for humans to objectively analyze their lives. This will allow for people to not see through the emotion of the day (whether it be good or bad). I believe that a lot of stress in modern society is due to people not stepping back and reflecting on what they have and who they are. It is a common occurrence for people to wish they had something they don’t when they should be thankful for what they have.

    The third benefit of mindfulness is the fact that it can make one’s grades better. To prove this point, a study was outlined where students trained in mindfulness performed better on the GRE verbal section and had increased working memories. This is of huge importance to me because I am a college student. It is surprising that something as simple as being mindful can make on a more successful college student.

    The fourth benefit of mindfulness that I found interesting was the fact that it changes the brain in a protective way. It does this by increasing connections and axonal density as well as increasing the myelin around the axons. This can help protect against different mental illnesses. It is surprising to me that the physical make up of one’s brain can be completely changed due to a relatively simple practice. I think this goes to show how important mindfulness is in modern society that is plagued with mental illness.

    Finally, the fifth benefit of mindfulness is that it makes us a better person. It does this by making us more compassionate and more likely to perform virtuous behavior. I believe that these benefits of being mindful will help one not only help themselves but also help others. This is a trait that will specifically benefit many people.

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  3. The practice of mindfulness is meditating on different issues or aspects of one’s life. This meditation is meant to be nonjudgmental and allow someone to reflect on pass experiences. There are many benefits to mindfulness meditating. One benefit is “it could help our troops”. This article states that mindfulness meditation could allow troops to handle and recover from stress more effectively. I think that this could help our troops. Going to war is a very stressful situation even after you come home. Looking back on a situation and reflecting on it could help troops have a less negative thoughts and feelings about what happened when they were at war. Anything that could help our troops be healthier and happier should be implemented especially if it does not include medication. Another benefit is lowering stress. Mindfulness meditation lowers stress hormones and is associated is feeling less stress. I would agree with this. I believe that meditation on one’s life could make you realize things that stress you out and allow you to make them less stressful or eliminate them from your life. Another benefit is lowering depression among teens. Teaching teens mindfulness meditation at a young age could allow them to handle stress, anxiety, and depression. Teaching teens mindfulness meditation is a very good thing. Teaching people at a younger age a way to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression could allow them to live a happier life from then on, especially because as life goes on these things can get worse. Another benefit is helping with weight loss. 7 out of 10 psychologists say that mindfulness meditation is a excellent or good stagey for weight loss. I can believe this. Weight loss can be a tricky thing, but if you really think about your eating habits or exercise habits, this can help someone pin point what is holding them back or what is helping them. Another benefit is it lets us get to know our true self. Meditating can help us look past how we objectively analyze ourselves. This can be very beneficial for everyone. I think that mediation about your true self can help you be more confident and allow you to be happier.

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  4. The practice of mindfulness is meditating on different issues or aspects of one’s life. This meditation is meant to be nonjudgmental and allow someone to reflect on pass experiences. There are many benefits to mindfulness meditating. One benefit is “it could help our troops”. This article states that mindfulness meditation could allow troops to handle and recover from stress more effectively. I think that this could help our troops. Going to war is a very stressful situation even after you come home. Looking back on a situation and reflecting on it could help troops have a less negative thoughts and feelings about what happened when they were at war. Anything that could help our troops be healthier and happier should be implemented especially if it does not include medication. Another benefit is lowering stress. Mindfulness meditation lowers stress hormones and is associated is feeling less stress. I would agree with this. I believe that meditation on one’s life could make you realize things that stress you out and allow you to make them less stressful or eliminate them from your life. Another benefit is lowering depression among teens. Teaching teens mindfulness meditation at a young age could allow them to handle stress, anxiety, and depression. Teaching teens mindfulness meditation is a very good thing. Teaching people at a younger age a way to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression could allow them to live a happier life from then on, especially because as life goes on these things can get worse. Another benefit is helping with weight loss. 7 out of 10 psychologists say that mindfulness meditation is a excellent or good stagey for weight loss. I can believe this. Weight loss can be a tricky thing, but if you really think about your eating habits or exercise habits, this can help someone pin point what is holding them back or what is helping them. Another benefit is it lets us get to know our true self. Meditating can help us look past how we objectively analyze ourselves. This can be very beneficial for everyone. I think that mediation about your true self can help you be more confident and allow you to be happier.

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  5. Mindfulness is knowing what is going on around you. This could be how you feel on the inside emotionally or physically, or it could be what’s going on at that moment around you. Mindfulness lets the individual notice and pay more attention to the day-to-day things, and helps them cope and adapt to the issues. Mindfulness lowers stress; studies show that the stress hormone cortisol was less in mindfulness meditators. I think that this makes sense and everyone could benefit from it. It also has been found to help students get better grades. Meditating clears your mind and makes it easier to focus and absorb things. Students could use this when getting ready for test. It could help our troops handle stress better and recover more efficiently. Mindfulness would be great for our troops. Stress in general and PTSD are large issues in the military and this could help them better handle stress and recover from it. It is said to change to change our brain to protect it. The studies showed that people who practice mindfulness had increased signaling in the connections in the brain. I think this is awesome, because it can help people function better and understand stuff that they are learning better. It is also said to make music sound better, it makes us listen to it more and focus on what we are listening too. I think that this is interesting, because I know that when I listen to music I’m not really listening to the words or instruments more just the sound.

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    1. I think the biggest thing that differentiates mindfulness from other forms of meditation/relaxation is the idea that you are to be *nonjudmentally* aware of what is going on in your life and around you.

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  6. To me, mindfulness is being aware of the issues that are causing you stress and meditating or thinking about how to get rid of this stress. Mindfulness can keep you in touch with your own mind and body and try to get to the core of your problems and to get rid of unnecessary stress. There are many different positive effects that mindfulness can have on a person. The first is that mindfulness can reduce stress for an individual and can actually decrease the hormone that causes stress in the body. The second effect is that mindfulness can help a person get in touch with their true self. Finding ones true self can help a person see and accept their flaws and love themselves. A third benefit is that mindfulness can actually make music sound better. This is done by meditation which can improve our focused engagement in music which can help a person truly enjoy and experience music. A fourth benefit is that it can help and support weight loss goals. Mindfulness training and meditation can help a person take control of their cravings which can greatly help in weight loss. The fifth benefit that mindfulness can have is that it can help a person sleep better. Mindfulness can help a person keep their emotions under control. While most of us lay awake overthinking situations before trying to sleep, those practicing mindfulness take control of these emotions and are able to get better sleep.

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  7. To me, mindfulness is about being aware of the things around you. It is about being aware about everything that is causing you stress in your life.
    One benefit of mindfulness is that it lowers stress. I can find this easily true because if you are aware of everything around you and you are aware about everything that is causing stress in your life then you will experience less of it. A second benefit of mindfulness is it can make your grades better. I can also find this true because if you are aware of your stress then it will be easier to handle and your grades will be better because of it. Research shows that college students who were trained in mindfulness experienced improvements in their working memory. A third benefit of mindfulness is that it makes music sound better. I find this hard to be true because I feel that even if you aren't experienced in mindfulness, music is still going to sound good. A fourth benefit of mindfulness is that it makes you a better person. I believe that mindfulness would make you a better person because you are so aware of your surroundings so it would make you more aware of what kind of person you are trying to be. A fifth benefit of mindfulness is that it lowers depression risk among pregnant women. Research finds that yoga may lead to an empowered and positive feeling toward pregnancy. The less stressed you are, the more positive you are going to me.

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    1. I think the biggest thing that differentiates mindfulness from other forms of meditation/relaxation is the idea that you are to be *nonjudmentally* aware of what is going on in your life and around you.

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  8. Practice of mindfulness is the process of understanding one’s body and mind in a peaceful manner. I found it interesting that the practice of mindfulness can protect a person from mental illnesses. Brain changes may occur, which leads to the increase in connections within the brain. Mindfulness meditation can improve a person’s sensation to music. This interests me because I listen to music all of the time. Meditation lets us focus on music better, which makes it more enjoyable. There is a benefit of mindful meditation towards doctors and how it can improve their jobs. Doctors are able to interact and listen to their patients better. I find that this study was only completed on doctors. I am sure mindful meditation can improve anyone’s occupation that works with patients, clients, or customers. Since I work at a nursing home, hearing that it helps the elderly feel less lonely caught my eye. If an elderly person feels less lonely, this will increase their mental and emotional health. Lastly, mindful meditation can help a person with sleeping. A person has more control over their mindfulness has control over one’s emotions and moods.

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  9. As I have said on previous blogs, the best way for me to cope with stress would be through a drive by myself, listening to music, or the element of time. Each of these allows time for me to be away and think about/process what is going on around me. This is almost a way for me to do mindfulness mediation. However, I define mindfulness mediation to be a way to recognize or become aware of the situations around you.

    LOWERING STRESS: Since we just discussed stress, mindfulness mediation has shown a lower level of the hormone linked to stress. This is a great benefit to mindfulness mediation, especially considering all of the negative effects stress can have.

    MUSIC QUALITY: Mindfulness mediation can actually make music sound better, due to our ability to focus or meditate. If we can concentrate on just the music and be aware of ever pitch, we can enjoy the music a little more.

    IMPROVED DOCTORS: According to the article, mindfulness mediation can help improve patient care. I am going to school to become a nurse and am hoping that mindfulness mediation can improve the quality of care I give to my patients as well.

    BETTER PERSON: Mindfulness mediation seems to be for personal growth and self care, but the article suggests that it can actually help others as well. Certain studies have shown that this meditation makes us more compassionate to do good things for others.

    SLEEPING HABITS: Sometimes people lie awake at night, just thinking of everything they have to the next day or all of the stresses of the real world; however, mindfulness mediation can eliminate those thoughts at a proper time or just put those thoughts at ease before bed.

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  10. Mindfulness is being fully aware of yourself and your surroundings in the present moment. The article discusses the many benefits of mindfulness. I will elaborate on some of these advantages in detail as follows:
    1. Mindfulness lets us know our true selves. Mindfulness helps us objectively analyze ourselves in a way that allows us to conquer common “blind spots.” This is an important advantage because by increasing your awareness you will be able to align your self-concept with your true self.
    2. There were many advantages listed in the article relating to stress. Mindfulness lowers stress levels and can also help us better handle stress. Published research shows that mindfulness is not only associated with feeling less stressed, but it is also linked to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Those who are more conscious and aware of their surroundings will be better able to handle challenging situations.
    3. Mindfulness will also make music sound better. Mindfulness helps us truly enjoy and experience what we’re listening to. Music is an excellent go-to for me when I’m struggling with stressful situations. By engaging in an increased focus in my music I am able to better analyze what I’m listening to and become inspired by the meaning it is relaying.
    4. Mindfulness makes you a better person. It makes us more compassionate and is linked with more virtuous behavior. With increased awareness you will be better able to predict the consequences of certain actions, allowing you to prevent harmful things from happening.
    5. Finally, mindfulness helps you sleep better. Mindfulness training can help us better control our emotions and moods. The study researcher Holly Rau said, “people who reported higher levels of mindfulness described better control over their emotions and behaviors during the day. In addition, higher mindfulness was associated with lower activation at bedtime, which could have benefits for sleep quality and future ability to manage stress.” If people use their minds in full capacity throughout the day they will be more exhausted and better prepared to sleep at night. Good, quality sleep will result in a better quality of life.

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    1. Yes, but being nonjudgmental in your awareness is key.

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  11. Mindfulness is the unconscious practice of being carefully aware of one’s surrounding, mind, and body. Mindfulness also makes one much more conscious of experiences he or she is having in life. There were five points that caught my attention in the article for various reasons.
    POINT 3: IT CAN MAKE YOUR GRADES BETTER. This caught my attention because when I think of good grades, I think of studying a lot and putting effort into assignments and turning them in on time. I never thought about mindfulness affecting my grades, but reading this article made it clear to me that mindfulness increases cognitive functioning, which improves critical thinking skills.
    POINT 6: IT CHANGES THE BRAIN IN A PROTECTIVE WAY. Like many other people, I was taught to believe that the brain stops growing in your mid-twenties. However, recent research has led us to a new discovery – that myelin can keep growing and increase our protection from mental illness.
    POINT 8: IT MAKES MUSIC SOUND BETTER. As someone who hopes to work in the music industry at some point in my life, this made me stop right where I was and think about practicing mindfulness for myself. Mindfulness increases how much attention we can give to music, which gives us a more enriching listening experience.
    POINT 16; IT COMES IN HANDY DURING COLD SEASON. Mindfulness can actually help our immune systems fight off common infections. I think that part of the reason for this could be that mindful people are more likely to take better care of their bodies than people who don’t engage in mindful behaviors.
    POINT 17: IT LOWERS DEPRESSION RISK AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN. I have a pregnant friend right now and this immediately made me think of her. If yoga can help her have a smoother pregnancy, of course I’m going to tell her about it.
    Overall, I think that mindfulness is extremely beneficial, and not just mentally. Research shows that mindfulness keeps your body healthy, too.

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  12. Mindfulness is being aware of something. It is focusing on one's awareness at that time. From this article, I learned a lot. I was not aware that mindfulness had this many positive benefits. Some of these benefits include lowers stress, makes you a better person, it could help the elderly feel less lonely, lowers depression in teens and pregnant women, helps sleep better, and many more. Mindfulness lowers stress and decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol. I don't really see how stress is lowered by mindfulness. However, there is research provided to back it up. Mindfulness also makes you a better person. Mindfulness make us more compassionate and it makes us do good things. I do agree with this one. If I am more aware and I am focusing on my awareness at the present moment then I am more likely to really think about the situation. I will also be more likely to do good things. Mindfulness could also help the elderly feel less lonely. Mindfulness also helps the elderyly with boosting their health. I do think that this is accurate, for everyone. When I am sad and feeling bad, that is usually when I get sick. But, when I am happy and hopeful, I have better health. I think this is also true for the elderly. Mindfulness also lowers depression in teens and pregnant women. Mindfulness yoga is said to lower depression in pregnant women. I think that yoga helps to relax the body and lower stress. If children are taught mindfulness they are less stressed and depressed. Lastly, mindfulness helps you sleep better. It helps you relax and be able to sleep. The person has more control of their emotions and mood. I hope to learn more about mindfulness and how I can do it.

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  13. This article explains why mindfulness meditation is beneficial for your mental and physical health. To me, the practice of mindfulness is the act of meditation where one reflects on their life, past, present, and future. Meditation makes us aware of our mental and physical state.

    The article lists twenty benefits, but here are my five favorites. Meditation lowers stress, decreasing the levels of cortisol in the body. It enables a person to feel less stress, and actually become less stressed due to changes in the stress hormone. This is the number one reason why I go to yoga and actively try to mediate often. I always feel so relaxed after. I didn’t know that it actually lowers my cortisol levels though.

    Another benefit of mediation can be seen in the classroom. According to research, it can help improve your grades. Students who were trained in mindfulness performed better on the verbal section of the GRE. Researchers believe meditation helps improve memory and cognitive functions. This is a very cool benefit because I was not aware that a simple meditation could have such an impact on test scores.

    Mediation can also change the brain in a protective manner. Researchers have found that using integrative body-mind training can change the brain to protect itself against mental illness. It increases the signaling connections in the brain and much more. This is a huge benefit and it is amazing that the brain can alter itself for protection. More people should meditate because mental illnesses are a serious topic.

    Another interesting benefit, meditation makes music sound better. Mindfulness allows us to focus on engaging in music, learning to enjoy it more thoroughly. This is a very cool benefit and research study. I never thought that meditation could help enhance my experience of music.

    Lastly, mindfulness mediation helps you sleep better at night, due to being able to handle emotions and behaviors better during the day. Having higher levels of mindfulness enables a person to have a better quality of sleep and manage future stress better. Sleep is one of my favorite activities and if meditating can make that better, I need to start doing more. It is simply amazing how the mind and body react to mediation. There are many benefits associated with the practice of being mindful.

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  14. Mindfulness for me is defined as being mindful and aware in situation. Experiences and personal history help to enhance mindfulness. Mindfulness can be helpful in new situation as well. Helping one have an idea of what is to occur. Mindfulness is shown to be a major stress reliever. It has been seen that is lowers cortisol, the stress causing hormone. Stress and stressful situations being lowered by mindfulness is a very surprising to me but make sense. Being aware of your surrounding and situations could definitely reduce stress. Getting better grades is also one factor of mindfulness. People who were trained in mindfulness have been seen to do better on verbal tests. It is also seen to increase working memory and be effective in improving cognitive functions. I did not realize how many helpful factors mindfulness had. Increasing grades through mindfulness is probably helping in relieving stress too. Mindfulness can also make music sound better, it improves our focused engagement. Mindfulness can help enjoy the music more and enhance what you are listening to. I love music so this is very interesting to find out. I wonder if mindfulness makes a difference for dancing too. Meditating and taking the time to meditate could seriously calm me down and I think it would definitely lower my stress level and improve memory. I can see how meditating would improve how you listen to music. The dance aspect of would be interesting to try, the enhancement in music could be better for dancing though. Mindfulness mediation could make your medical bill lower. People are more relaxed and less stressed so I can see how this could lower your medical bills. The fifth one that I liked the best was mindful meditating contributing to weight loss goals. Weight loss can be a great health benefit and the fact that meditating can help is awesome. After seeing all the different benefits of mindful meditation I think that it would be super great to try.

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  15. I was still a little confused about what mindfulness was, so I also read this article to help me:
    http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-courage-be-present/201001/how-practice-mindfulness-meditation
    Mindfulness is a form of meditation or reflection that teaches you to be completely aware and present in every moment of your life. Mindfulness teaches you how to notice what is happening in your life at this moment. Often without even realizing it, we do not focus on what is actually happening without the experience being influenced by the past or what is to come. Mindfulness can help in both positive and negative situations. Being fully aware of a bad moment without any judgment helps you to look at every aspect of the situation in order to fully comprehend it, which will help to solve it or relieve any related stress. In a happy moment, mindfulness helps you to be fully present so you don’t miss out on what is happening right now.

    Other benefits of mindfulness include making music more enjoyable. Being mindful allows you to become more focused and absorbed in music, allowing it to take you places it otherwise would not have. Secondly, it can make you a better person by causes you to be more compassionate toward others. When you practice mindfulness, it is more likely you will notice others in need. The practice of mindfulness can also decrease feelings of loneliness and as well as inflammation in the elderly. A fourth benefit of mindfulness meditation is lowered risks of depression in pregnant women and teens, helping them to feel more positive and less stressed. Finally, mindfulness practice can help you sleep better at night, helping you to “shut you brain off” when you get into bed.

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    1. Yes, and mindfulness is about not being judgmental of yourself.

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  17. Being mindful, for me, is taking a situation weather it is in your life or beyond and breaking it down and looking at all the aspects of it. Not leaving any part out and looking at it from many different perspectives. One of the benefits in this article talks about letting us get to know our true selves. I think in any decisions in life a person should look at all possible angles and if you are not doing this you are 1.) making a bad choice and 2.) not being true with yourself and what you really think would be the best choice. The next benefit is that being mindful can make your grades better I think this is true because you are critically thinking about what you are learning and trying to understand it, not just learning it on the base level but going deeper to understand it as a whole. The next benefit is that it makes music sound better. This is true in the fact that you can break down whatever kind music you listen to and start hear how the individual parts mess together and make the piece sound beautiful. Along with understanding music being mindful could make your health care bill a little lower. Just like music, if you break down your body and understand how each member works together you can better appreciate how it works together and learn how take better care and be a healthier person. Along with being a healthier person being mindful can help with your mental health. The final benefit that I will talk about is that being mindful could lower depression risk among pregnant women. I think being mindful can help with any depression but with pregnant women is especially helpful. Making a guess, because I have not and never will be pregnant, when a women becomes pregnant her whole world changes. She is not just thinking about herself any more, and her body is changing in so many ways it is hard to keep track. With all these changes it would be easy to let your mind shut down and stop trying to understand what is going on. If a person spends time being mindful they can break down what is going on and understand it on a deeper level and be at peace with what is happening.

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  18. In my own words, mindfulness is when you have deep thought about what you are going through in life at that point in time, and you accept it without having any stress or worries about your issues.

    In the article it said that mindfulness could make music sound better. I truly believe this statement because of personal experiences. When I am completely relaxed and I listen to music, I pay attention to every lyric and I can hear every part of the beat that I may not hear if I’m in my car driving or working out.

    The article also states that mindfulness can lower stress. This statement is also believable. Whenever I get stressed out about a grade I received on a test, I learn to accept it. I just look at the big picture and tell myself “It’s just one test, I have other opportunities to bring my grade up”. When I do this, it helps me feel much better about the situation and it helps me to stop stressing.

    Mindfulness makes you better person. I believe that mindfulness does indeed do this. My reasoning is that a huge part of mindfulness is acceptance and realization. I can help you accept the fact that not all humans are the same and that everyone has their own unique story that makes them who they are, which in return will help you treat people better.

    It comes in handy during cold season. This statement is one of the most believable because it is proven that it’s easier to get sick when you are stressed, and one of the main benefits of mindfulness is it relieves stress.

    Another benefit that was listed in this article was that mindfulness helps us even when we’re not practicing it. I didn’t understand this statement because I don’t see how it can benefit you without actually relaxing yourself and being mindful. I believe that unless you actually meditate, you will react to stressful situations the way you normally would.

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  19. In my opinion, mindfulness is being conscious of what is going on both internally and externally. You direct your focus to elements of your body and have a general awareness of what is happening in your surrounding environments. In yoga, they teach you to steady your breath and pay attention to every part of your body and to connect every part on the same level. That is what I think of when I think of mindfulness.
    5 benefits of mindfulness that stood out to me are:
    1. It can help you sleep better. According to a study by the University of Utah, high mindfulness was associated with lower activation levels at night, which could benefit sleep.
    2.It can aid in weight loss goals. According to a survey by the American Psychologists Association, mindfulness was found to be a positive tool in losing weight.
    3.Aids the immune system. According to the article, people who practice mindful meditation and exercise could lower the severity and duration of a cold.
    4.It can make you a better person. Practicing mediation could make you a more compassionate, "do-good" person.
    5.Could make cancer less stressful. According to the article, mindfulness coupled with art therapy can reduce stress symptoms among women with breast cancer.
    I myself try to practice mindfulness and I have noticed a positive change in my life. It is something I strongly encourage everyone to try.

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  20. The practice of mindfulness is the feeling of being aware of your surroundings and having a clear thought of mind so one can focus about what is going on or on a specific thought. The first benefit that I thought was interesting was that it lowered stress not just how a person is feeling but the chemical that is involved with stress in the brain is also lowered. It will help a persons overall health if mindfulness can lower stress. Second benefit that stood out was it helps student's grades improve. Memory and verbal reasoning improved when would help students succeed in school. Third benefit I noticed is that it helps our troops. Troops are better prepared because they perform better and can deal with stress easier. This could really help troops since there is a increase in PTSD. The fourth benefit is it helps make music sound better. The mindfulness helps those focus more when they are listening to music. Most people enjoy listening to music so practicing mindfulness could only help intensify the experience. Mindfulness can help the doctor be better at his or her job. They would be more intent on listening to the patient and judge less. Everyone I think would want their doctor to be better because they are taking care of human beings and we want to know they did everything they could.

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  21. The practice of mindfulness relates to the idea of meditating and thinking about one’s own thoughts and experiences without judgment of them. Mindfulness helps people to reflect and get more out of their own life. In this article, they describe how mindfulness is actually extremely helpful. The article describes twenty benefits. The first benefit is that mindfulness helps to reduce stress. It helps to you feel less stress emotionally but biologically it helps as well. Mindfulness actually reduces the use of the stress hormone cortisol. I think that this is probably one of the most important benefits that the article talks about because stress is all around us. If we don’t learn to cope with stress in the right way than it can have serious consequences on our lives and the way we feel. It can tear us down. Another benefit that the article talks about is that it can help our troops. This benefit stuck out for me because I had a high school volleyball coach in the military and I was really close to his family. He has dealt with a lot of stress. The article said that teaching the troops to practice mindfulness will help them to cope with the stress that the military brings. I think this is another great benefit and could be part of working towards the solution to lower military suicides. A third benefit is that mindfulness makes music sound better. The article describes how we can truly enjoy and understand what we are listening to clearer if we practice mindfulness. This benefit stuck out to me because I love music. A fourth benefit to mindfulness is that it could make you a better person. If one participates in mindfulness they become more compassionate and caring towards others which I feel like is very important and could help solve some of the stresses of college life if people are more caring towards others. The fifth benefit that I found to be interesting was that it could help going through cancer less stressful. This definitely stuck out to me because my family is battling with that right now because we have a family member who will probably lose her life to breast cancer soon. It has been really hard. It is good to know that maybe if she does this she will feel less stress through this process and maybe not suffer as much.

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  22. The practice of mindfulness is the idea of thinking about oneself. The thoughts about oneself and others without judging them. It helps a person reflect on their own life and make their own life better through meditation. There are a lot people out there that think meditation is a great way to reflect on there own self. In this article it gives 20 ways that mindfulness meditation can help oneself through tough times and make oneself a better person.
    1.)Help with arthritis...it can help people with arthritis with lowering stress and fatigue. If you think about it a lot of things us older generation people where taught is mind over matter. If you think you are tired you are tired. With self reflection and meditation you can make yourself believe that you are not in pain and that you are not tired. Although the article says it may not help lower pain but if you are feeling good and you are energetic you are willing to do more things. If you are out having fun you don't think about the pain you are having, you are thinking about the fun you are having.
    2.) Music...when you are focused you here the words to the music playing in the background. When you are able to actually focus on the music and not everything else in your life music can help you calm down and make your life feel so much better. Music is a great escape. It is a great way to release all that pent up anger that you have inside you. When you are able to listen to the music you are able to enjoy it so much better.
    3.) Helping the doctor....going in to see your doctor knowing he/she is more relaxed makes for your visit so much better. Knowing he is not going to be as judgmental with you makes your visit so much better. Having children this is a big one, because if I take my child in I always have a feeling the doctor is judging me because there might not be something super serious with them. Knowing that he/she is relaxed and thinking I am a little on edge cause one of my babies is sick helps me relax. Knowing I am not in there just for sympathy or something that is not major puts me at ease.
    4.) Lonely....Knowing that you are alone all the time can be stressful. But being able to self reflect can help a person not feel so lonely. If they are meditating and thinking about themselves it makes them feel so much better. Knowing that they only have to worry about themselves and no one else can put ease on their mind. If you get into a state of meditation you may not be alone.
    5.) Healthy during cold season...exercise is a great thing to remember during the cold season. I don't look like I exercise much but I am one of the biggest people to tell others that a little cardio when you are sick helps out a lot. Recently leaving the medical field after 12 years I have seen it a lot. People who exercise during the cold season do get the common cold as often. Working on oneself helps release all the nasty toxins in your body and makes you feel better all the time.

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  23. Mindfulness is the process of meditating or reflecting on different aspects in your life. Just thinking about situations and how they affect you can help relieve stress and make you feel better about something. It can make you more calm and collected and it can help you enjoy certain things after you’ve reflected on something and know how you can get the most out of it; such as not getting as many colds during cold season. Being mentally healthy is one thing, but physically healthy can help you stay out of the doctor’s office. I know for me, it’s hard to go to the gym in the winter and you have all of the excuses in the world. Some are it’s too cold outside, it’s so far away, I’m burning calories trying to keep myself warm! If you ignore the silly excuses it can really help you. I can really relate to this next one about how practicing mindfulness helps your weight-loss goals. I’m in the process of trying to become more fit and I know there are those certain days that just discourage you and you want to give up. Thinking about exercising and reflecting on in the long run it’s going to benefit you so get up and go to the gym, can give you the drive to keep trying instead of just giving up. When something is on your mind bothering you and it’s late at night, you can guarantee that you won’t be falling asleep anytime soon. Reflecting about why your upset or what is bothering you can help you clear your mind and control your emotions better. Mindfulness will ensure that you aren’t an emotional wreck when you want to go to bed at night. I know I’ve had many nights like that in the past and I stay up for hours tossing and turning in bed. Also, practicing mindfulness not only makes you a better person, but it can be rubbed off on someone else too. It can change our behaviors and outlooks on situations. Once you do something that makes you feel good and helps someone else, it will have a domino affect on someone else to do the same thing. Last but not least, music. I love listening, singing, playing, and learning music. You can really express yourself through the rhythm and lyrics. Sometimes when you hear a song, it doesn’t mean that you actually listened to it. If you actually take the time to listen to how it speaks to you and to others, you’ll have a better understanding of it and thus resulting in actually enjoying it more.

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  24. Mindfulness occurs when a person focuses on the present moment, while still calmly thinking about their thoughts and feelings. By practicing mindfulness people are able to clear their minds of any stress or worry that they have been actively thinking about, allowing people to see the truth. There are many benefits of mindfulness, including lowering stress, increasing academic grades, making music sound better, lowering your healthcare bill, and helping you to sleep better.

    Mindfulness helps to lower stress by not only helping people to feel less stressed, but by actually decreasing their levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Second, mindfulness helps people to increase their academic grades by showing improvements in their working memory, which is a side effect of the increase in cognitive function that mindfulness causes. Next, mindfulness causes people to hear music better than they did before. This comes from an increase in the focused engagement that people experience when listening to music, causing people to enjoy the music that they are listening to much more than they did before. Mindfulness also has shown to help people reduce their yearly doctor costs compared with people who don’t practice this technique. This comes from the increase in health that practicing mindfulness provides. Finally, mindfulness can help people to sleep better by helping them to control their emotions and moods during the day which leads to a decrease in stress and brain activation at bed time. Overall, there are many benefits to the practice of mindfulness. I have experienced a type of this mindfulness by attending yoga classes. I always feel so much more relaxed and stress free after leaving the classes, and I think this is due to my ability to focus on myself instead of all of stressors of everyday life.

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  25. Mindfulness occurs when a person focuses on the present moment, while still calmly thinking about their thoughts and feelings. By practicing mindfulness people are able to clear their minds of any stress or worry that they have been actively thinking about, allowing people to see the truth. There are many benefits of mindfulness, including lowering stress, increasing academic grades, making music sound better, lowering your healthcare bill, and helping you to sleep better.

    Mindfulness helps to lower stress by not only helping people to feel less stressed, but by actually decreasing their levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Second, mindfulness helps people to increase their academic grades by showing improvements in their working memory, which is a side effect of the increase in cognitive function that mindfulness causes. Next, mindfulness causes people to hear music better than they did before. This comes from an increase in the focused engagement that people experience when listening to music, causing people to enjoy the music that they are listening to much more than they did before. Mindfulness also has shown to help people reduce their yearly doctor costs compared with people who don’t practice this technique. This comes from the increase in health that practicing mindfulness provides. Finally, mindfulness can help people to sleep better by helping them to control their emotions and moods during the day which leads to a decrease in stress and brain activation at bed time. Overall, there are many benefits to the practice of mindfulness. I have experienced a type of this mindfulness by attending yoga classes. I always feel so much more relaxed and stress free after leaving the classes, and I think this is due to my ability to focus on myself instead of all of stressors of everyday life.

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  26. Mindfulness is just being aware of your surroundings, meditating on the good or bad of them, and examining realistic ways to handle the stress. There are a lot of benefits to mindfulness. One such benefit is lowering stress. Obviously, if you look at stress in a realistic, hopefully positive way, you're less likely to get extremely stressed out and it shows in the cortisol levels. Another benefit is it can help the brain be more resilient to mental illness. If people are thinking deeper about how they analyze stress, and about themselves in general, they're less likely to develop a serious mental disorder because they're going to be doing a lot self analysis. On the science side of it, the article mentioned that the brain was being restructured to be more resilient as well due to meditation techniques. Another benefit is that it helps the elderly be less lonely. The elderly have one of the highest rates of suicide, and this technique helps them feel more connected and boosts their health. Another benefit is it raises the immune system for respiratory infections during colds. Positive affect has been shown to help people overcome illness, mindfulness helps people have a better outlook and ;therefore, shorter colds. The final benefit I'm going to mention is it lessens depression in teenagers and pregnant women. By helping pregnant women and teens handle their stresses better, this meditation technique has lowered the risk for depression in these high risk groups. I think mindful meditation is a good technique to use and definitely has a great deal of benefits.

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  27. In my opinion mindfulness means to be aware of everything going on in and around you at a given time. This means you are aware of how you are feeling as well as how the people around you are feeling. The first benefit that surprised me was that mindfulness makes music sound better. I am still skeptical about how a state of mind can change how something sounds at a given point. I suppose that if mindful meditation makes us feel a heightened sense of focus then we would become more aware of the music and rhythms. The second benefit I found interesting was that mindfulness makes you a better person. I guess that if you are more aware of how the people around you are feeling then you are more likely to treat them better. An increased amount of compassion for others would generally allow you to be a more valuable member of society, compared to someone who shows no compassion. The third benefit I found interesting was that mindfulness could make your healthcare bill a little lower. This one didn’t really surprise me too much since it seems like if you practice mindful meditation you would be less stressed since it is a relaxation technique. The fourth benefit of mindfulness that I found surprising was that it supports your weight loss goal. I am skeptical of how mindfulness can help you lose weight. I that being mindful of others while trying to lose weight may be beneficial because it helps your mind stay in a happy place. Other than that I don’t think that mindfulness alone could help someone lose weight. The fifth benefit to mindfulness that I found interesting was that it could help your doctor be better at his/her job. This one didn’t really surprise me but I found the information useful. I fully believe that if a doctor has more compassion and is mindful of his/her patients, then the doctor will do a better job helping those patients. Mindfulness and compassion play huge roles in communicating with patients effectively, allowing the doctor to get a better understanding how he/she can help.

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  28. I would define mindfulness as being aware of the situations at hand. Mindfulness can truly help you in many aspects of your life. There are twenty benefits of mindfulness discussed in this article, but I will talk about five of them.

    Mindfulness makes music sound better. Mindfulness meditation improves our ability to focus on music; letting us truly understand the meaning and interpretation of the song. This allows us to appreciate music on a different level. When listening to songs we tend to listen to music based on our mood and I feel that songs can relate to our situations if you focus on them.

    Mindfulness allows us to be a better person. Meditating is said to have a connection with ‘do-good’ behavior; meaning that we are more caring towards the keep we are around. This is very beneficial because others like being around those who care about them.

    Meditating lowers the risk of depression in teens. Having programs set up to teach mindfulness to teens will help lower their chances of depression, anxiety, and stress levels. This is important because suicide, eating disorders, self-harm, and more are becoming very common in teens. If we can help reduce stress, depression, and anxiety, it will help.

    Achieving your weight loss goals is a benefit of mindfulness. In a survey of psychologists, seven out of ten said that mindfulness meditating is a good way to achieve weight loss. This is also important because there are many people out there who are trying to lose weight. This is a great way for them to achieve it because it is good for you and you get to know yourself.

    Mindfulness also helps you sleep better. People who engage more in mindfulness meditation are said to have more control over their emotions and better sleep quality. Who wouldn’t like to have that? I know I have a hard time sleeping at night and I’m sure I’m not the only one who does. If we do not get enough sleep then we tend to be crabby. No one likes to be around crabby people.

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  29. Mindfulness is simply the awareness of present experiences around your person. One benefit of mindfulness is that it helps you sleep better. The more mindful the person, the more that person can control their emotions and behaviors, allowing the person to be able to fall asleep at night easier. Another benefit of mindfulness is it can help you lose weight. The more mindful a person is about themselves, the more aware they are of what they eat and how much they exercise. A third benefit of mindfulness is that it is handy during cold season. Mindfulness about good hygiene and exercise can lessen the effects of illness. A fourth benefit is that it can make you a better person. Being mindful about other people means that you can read people for ques to their well being and attitude. A fifth benefit is that it works as the brain's volume knob. Mindfulness allows you to listen and see everything around you, and gives you the ability to listen to the bird chirping thirty feet away over top of the crowd of people.

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  30. Practice of mindfulness is being able to let go of any daily troubles, be still, and focus your energies on accepting everything that is going on, inside you physically and mentally, and also what is going on around you. One benefit of mindfulness is that it can make your grades better. The article explained that students you were trained in mindfulness did better on the verbal reasoning section of the GRE, and also experienced improvements in their working memory. I am personally taking the GRE soon, so this fact caught my attention! Another benefit of mindfulness is that it could help our troops. I think this is something that we as a country should really look in to! It seems that it would be highly beneficial. Troops experience stress at increasingly high rates, so every little bit of mindfulness helps! I found it interesting that mindfulness could help with arthritis. It’s crazy that we can actually help to diminish something as painful as arthritis, just with mindfulness. Mindfulness also makes music sound better. I have recently become interested in meditation, and have been practicing. It does actually does make music sound better! It also makes you a better overall person, not only for yourself, but also for those around you. It makes us more compassionate overall, which strengthens relationships with those around us. Overall, I really enjoyed this article! Since I have recently begun practicing meditation, it was interesting to read through all of its benefits.

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  31. After reading this article I don't think I have ever been more motivated to work on my mindfulness meditation skills! I have gone to yoga classes before and was totally in love with it. It is really calming and allows my body to relax to it's maximum. I think the purpose of mindfulness is to be able to take your mind and body and almost separate them from each other. Being able to sit and forget about the ache in your body and be able to think about the peacefulness within your mind is amazing.
    The 5 benefits to mindfulness are:
    1. It lowers stress. Stress is the biggest reason I started going to yoga. And it really does help.
    2. It lets us get to know our true selves. While sitting in child's pose on a yoga mat, what else do you have to think about other than yourself? Exactly. I remmber one specfic class where all I thought about was what I wanted to make of my life after my undergraduate. One would think that would have stressed me out and ruined my session but that wasn't the case. My mind and body was so relaxed that I was able to focus on all my jumbled thoughts and work through what I knew. I really got in touch with what my heart wanted. By the end of the class I found my head agreeing with my heart and not contradicting it. It was glorious.
    3. It changes the brain in a protective way. Apparently, participating in mindless meditation helps the brain "fight against" mental illness. As a psychology student, I've learned about multiple mental illnesses. I, along with everyone else, don't want any one of them.
    4. It makes music sound better. After discussing how important music is to me while de-stressing it is obviously important to me for my music to sound good. I think it sounds better because when our body is relaxed we can truly focus on what the message in the music is and subconsciously relate it back to our lives.
    5. It makes you a better person. Everyone wants to be able to say being compassionate is an adjective others can say about us. When your mind and body are at ease, apparently so is your sassiness.

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad you want to try it! It can be a very difficult thing for people to get the hang of, especially given the fast paced society we live in. A lot of people tend to give up pretty easily as well, so I suggest that if you are going to try it to stick with it for awhile, even if it is rocky at first! However, if you already practice yoga, mindfulness may be easier for you to tackle than it would be for others.

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  32. Mindfulness meditation is the practice of unbiased about different things as well as experiences in one’s life. It is also about being completely aware of yourself and your surroundings. One benefit of mindfulness is that it lowers stress. This practice allows one to just be; if only for a few minutes. It allows one to get away from the stresses of everyday life by not focusing on one’s problems or daily activities. Another benefit is it changes the brain and can help protect it. Mindfulness can protect against mental illness because of the physical changes that occur in the brain during this practice, such as, the myelin increases around the axon. It also works as a volume knob for your brain. The practice exercises the brain and allows you to be better focused. It works by allowing for more control of emotions. When you are meditating you are suppose to not focus on any one topic from your point of view based on emotions so this training allows you to do this in everyday life as well. Another benefit is that it can make you a better person. It is shown that meditating can make you a more compassionate person. I think this is true because while meditating you are suppose to be unbiased so that could make you more open minded and helpful. Lastly mindfulness can save you money when it comes to the doctor. To me this seems exactly right. Mindfulness reduces stress so with less stress your immune system can be stronger.

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  33. I think the practice of mindfulness is meditating to recognize your senses and experiences. It is not meant for you to make decisions or even think about things but just to be aware of their presences.
    It makes music sound better.- It opens you up to more fully enjoy and absorb what you are listening to. This really intrigues me because music is a huge part of my life.
    It literally lowers stress.- The fact that it has actually shown to lower stress levels makes me wonder how many other aspects of your life it can help in.
    It makes you a better person- I think along with stress and many other things this is true because meditation helps you reach a different state of mind that can put the rest of your body and life at peace. Most of these benefits in the article stem from that.

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  34. To me the practice of mindfulness is meditating which is setting yourself aside and looking at things in your life non-judgmentally. I am so glad this topic is on here because I myself practice meditation (at least I try anyways). Though some days I don't really feel like I accomplish much there are other days where my meditating completely changes my mood, energy levels and the rest of my day. You don't try to solve the world's problems when you meditate but just be aware of them, to me its a deep thinking while being really calm. I like to have a little meditation time before taking tests, not to try and cram last minute information but to just sit and peacefully evaluate everything I'm about to be tested on. It really clears my mind and allows me to think about only what I want to.
    It lowers stress levels: this is actually why I first tried meditating and it really worked! I'm a constant worrier and meditating really allowed me to clear my mind and lower my stress levels.
    It makes music sound better- very true! Some of the music I use to start off my meditation sessions is very free flowing and nature sounding it's not something I would listen to regularly but while i'm meditating or even afterwards I find myself really active listening to music. I don't just hear words but I put them together and make sense of them.
    It helps us even when we're not actively practicing it: I noticed a change in my workouts after I started meditating on a regular basis. It seemed as though my breathing changed which can ultimately change your entire workout!
    It lowers depression risk among teens: Being someone who doesn't normally handle stress well and being a constant worrier I have had my battles with depression and I can honestly say they have decreased dramatically since I started practicing mindfulness.
    It helps you sleep better: It is very noticeable when I meditate prior to going to bed versus when I don't. Even my boyfriend notices that when I meditate before going to bed I fall asleep faster, I seem to sleep deeper, and I move around less. On nights I don't meditate I find myself lying awake with my head trying to wrap around ten plus ideas or problems. When I meditate I can go to bed with a clear mind and its much easier to drift off.

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