Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I appreciate it. I'll give them all a go, or as much as I feel up to.

Sleepy21 - the 5 things you can hear, etc. technique is called Grounding, interesting isn't it? I'll have to do more of that. It works well with panic attacks I've heard but of course everything is different for everybody.

PhoebeWings - interesting suggestions, thank you. Like you, I love walking too. You can see so many nice things. I always walk, take in the smell (for example the Eucalyptus smell after it's been raining, i love the smell of Eucalyptus), look at the trees, birds, all of that. I guess that's some mindfulness too.

Thanks again for the suggestions everyone, I'll try to practice them all sometime if I feel like it. Thanks for this thread.

Tayla

Hi Tayla....always great to have your input on the forums and thankyou! Great post too :-)

Hi Sleepy21.....Your input is valued and thankyou for helping us with 'mindfulness' I am not used to the term either which is why I wrote this thread topic a few years ago....yet I am learning...albeit slowly...Just a note...the forums are a safe and non judgemental place for you to post...Your privacy and well being are paramount to Beyond Blue. Sure the forums are somewhat personal yet when we post it helps so many others..Thankyou!

Hi PhoebeWings.....what a wonderful helpful post! You have mentioned several noteworthy points...I hope its okay if I quote one of them....:-)

PhoebeWings mentioned.....I find if I slow right down, right down - every little simple good thing becomes very real, very present... it’s my ‘NOW’ You took the words right out of my mouth with your point...When I joined Beyond Blue 4 years ago...I used to mention...."Walk slow....Talk slow and Think slow"

Great to read such refreshing and helpful support everyone:-)

my kind thoughts

Paul

so can art be mindfulness? Because it takes up your whole focus mentally?

Hey Sleepy21

Great question!.....just in case PhoebeWings is unavailable....I will try to answer...

Absolutely! Art can be a wonderful way to find some inner peace (mindfulness)....just like gardening and so many other activities that keep us in the present moment......Art is a creative mindset which is gold where mindfulness is concerned

I think the term is 'gentle occupation' When we do so our mind is focused on the 'now'.....not the interfering thoughts that can bring us down...You also mentioned some excellent ways above that also help us too :-)

I will leave your question with PhoebeWings and Gambit if they are available to provide some additional clarity

Great to have you as part of the forum family Sleepy21

Paul

Hi all,

Isn't it strange how the written word can be seen to mean something different depending on who reads it.

Sleepy 21 wrote -" It seems hear like it's very personal, and people try to be mindful doing things they enjoy....not sure though..."

blondguy (Paul) replied - "Your privacy and well being are paramount to Beyond Blue. Sure the forums are somewhat personal yet when we post it helps so many others.."

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but to me it appears Paul read Sleepy21's comment as being about.... how people post personal thing on the forums.

I read Sleepy21's comment as being about.... how the manner in which we practice mindfulness is a personal choice & usually involves doing things we personally enjoy.

I only mentioned it because I thought this is a good reminder that without being able to see a person it is very easy to read more than one meaning into what we read.

Paws

Hi Paws

always a bonus to have you post on the forums Paws...You are spot on how the written word can sometimes be misconstrued and thankyou for the heads up too!...You are not barking up the wrong tree at all...your input is always valued

Sleepy21 asked "so can art be mindfulness? Because it takes up your whole focus mentally"? This is an excellent question Paws. Any support you can provide to Sleepy21 or contributing to the thread topic itself would be great

I hope you have been doing well

my kind thoughts

Paul

Hi Paul and everyone!

blondguy said:
Your fresh opinion/experience of what 'mindfulness' represents is important Gambit as you have provided clarity to so many....and that includes myself too
just a note....Approx 70% of the 'hits' to the forums are people that choose to 'read only' which is great...so you have helped more people than you know :-)

Thank you for your kind words Paul. I'm glad to be of some help!

so can art be mindfulness? Because it takes up your whole focus mentally?

Hi Sleepy21

You can absolutely use mindfulness while doing art. I'm sure you think about the look/feel/smell(?)/touch alot of things when your doing art.

When I'm doing photography im always thinking about the various things to try and get the best shot.

Hi Tayla - Yes the smell of Eucalyptus is gorgeous.

You know, it seems to me that we don’t necessarily need to put aside special time to practice enjoying the simple things of the moment.

Our lives in this world at this time are more complex than possibly any other time in our history. Not so terribly long ago, a much slower and simpler lifestyle was the norm.

No wonder so many are getting ill, sick and feel unable to cope.

Any moment, in fact any single moment you can truly seek the feeling of being ‘grounded’ in your place in the living universe. But the constructs of our complicated lives often are a big barrier. And we just feel overwhelmed.

Yet we’re at our best when we slow right down mentally, you know?

I’m in a good space this month - and now, it all seems so easy. Last month.... not so good. I should have slowed right down. But sometimes, I forget. 😉

Hi Sleepy21,

Good question re is the focus on Art a form of mindfulness.

Others have made some great comments.

Art and beauty in life, nature etc are all wonderful ways to ground ourselves.

And taking the time to engage our senses.

🌸🌸🌸

Hi Paul

I’m copying your format of bolding names 👍 🙂

I loved your expression ‘gentle occupation’.

We can give ourselves plentiful moments of gentle occupation.

We all need to recover ourselves from a culture that creates much self hurting through false values.

I’m going to find a poem I like and post it here . 💐

To me, this is a very ‘mindful’ piece of writing. It’s very comforting to me.

Hope others find a little solace too from the words.

Mary Oliver - Wild Geese

FAS




You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Phoebewings thanks so much for sharing that peaceful poem.

Hello Everyone..🤗..

Phoebewings, I also would like to thank you for sharing the poem...I enjoyed reading it...

I am a little confused....Is being mindful the same as mindfulness?.....

We can be mindful when we do just about anything, washing up, sweeping the floor, cleaning out the cupboards.. by thinking and watching what we’re doing when we are doing it...I think by being mindful while doing these things we are in the here and now...

On a different note...to me mindfulness is about calming our soul, mind and body..sitting outside and being in tune with nature, listening to the wildlife, feeling the weather, seeing the trees blowing in the wind...or sitting/laying down with some soft music on and watching the flickering flames of some candles, while taking in their gentle scent..

Are they basically the same....or completely different?

Love and hugs..

Grandy..

Hallo Ggrand,

Good to hear you enjoy Mary Oliver’s poem. I read it a lot!

Gosh, good questions re mindful and mindfulness.

I haven’t the answers.

But it seems to me, whether we’re doing sweeping or something domestic and mundane ( yet with slow considered pleasure) or reading something comforting, taking time to enjoy creating or appreciating a created thing - it can have the affect of making us feel really alive. Second by second.

Anxiety, depression, panic - all these things deaden our awareness of being the very alive creatures that we are.

Believe me, if I’m writing this - I’m helping myself to remember these are truths. I’m self counselling 😎😉I mentioned earlier I’m in a really good place this month, last month and the month before....awful.

Isn’t it sad how we get overcome with feelings and thoughts that detract from a life that can have a very simple richness, every day.

hi Phoebe and Tayla and Paul and Pawprints- thanks for sharing your ideas on mindfullness. your responses are very thoughtful. Some great responses. Thanks for opening up this idea of mindfulness. Tayla I did not know it was called grounding, that's very interesting. I have heard about the concept of going for a mindful walk, but it sounds similar to me as going for a walk as an artist or writer, where you take in all the sights and then record them after.

Hi everyone and thankyou for the super helpful contributions too!

Hey Gambit...no worries at all and thankyou for your kind support! You mentioned "When I'm doing photography im always thinking about the various things to try and get the best shot" I hear you there Gambit...I have a Nikon P900 and enjoy 'focusing' on the 'now' when using it...pardon the pun!

Hey PhoebeWings.....Your posts (and Mary Olivers' poem) are wonderful and thankyou! I am happy that you find the bold font helpful with member names...I stole the concept off a member 4 years ago when I started here as its easier for members to quickly notice a reply to their contribution as thread can roll over quickly

Hey Grandy......always a bonus to read your heartfelt posts and thankyou! When I wrote this thread topic I struggled with 'Mindful' and 'Mindfulness' as I had different therapy back in the prehistoric 1980's. I still find the term itself confusing...I understand it doesnt stand for a 'busy mind'...I was counselled not to have a 'full mind' for years....Just for myself I grow weary of seeing the question 'Have you tried Mindfulness?'....

Hey Sleepy21....thankyou for your very kind post and you are spot on when you mentioned the great responses above! Being 'grounded' in the moment as you and Tayla mentioned is the same as we are only focused on our immediate surroundings and appreciating the 'now'

my kindest always

Paul

hi there

for me mindfulness is about doing one thing at a time and paying attention to that one thing. for example cooking dinner, only being concerned about chopping the vegetables, letting nothing else in your mind, just being careful with the knife, watching what you are doing, consider the 5 senses, chopping onions, you can smell the onions, feel onions, see onions, hear the knife slicing and hitting the board, and pretty soon you'll be able to taste the onions.

Sally,

Welcome to the forum. Yhanks for usin your first post to joint the conversation.

Today life is full of distractions, so focusing on one thing at a fime becomes a challenge.

quirky

Hello everyone..🤗..

I like your description of what mindfulness is to you...Thank you so much..

My problem is that once I start doing things I want it finished.. my thoughts are racing ahead, wishing I was finished so I can find something else to do...

I think I’ve been mixing up what I thought was mindfulness with grounding, meditation or something else..silly me..

As the saying goes..we are never to old to learn...and I’m still learning...

Take care everyone...

Love to you all and some caring hugs..💜🤗..

Grandy..

Sallyiskind has just outlined precisely what mindfulness is. So there's no need for anyone to wonder any longer. Yes, it may prove difficult for some...which is why I guess the phrase "practise" mindfulness is used. You will know when you are doing it I assure you......thank you Sallyiskind for putting it so clearly.....

Everyone,

I think over the course of this thread many definitions of mindfulness have been given some like Sally succinct and to the point others more complicated.

Mindfulness has become and industry of books , workshops, and information so people feel if it is simple they must be doing it in a different way.

I have always gone for the simple approach and if others want a more complex one that is their choice.

I spoke to an 85 year old woman and she said when I described mindfulness, in my day that was called concentrating one thing at the one time.

Quirky

I've recently started looking at this and tried a number of apps (all limited unless you pay a hefty subscription)
I'm finding that no matter how hard I'm focusing on my breathing it's not helping elevate my current discomfort that I'm going through. Even if I get to manage 5 mins of stillness as soon as I open my eyes I'm back 2 square 1.
Same with being focused on the task at hand. Can take note of what I'm doing but yet the back of my mind is racing 100km/ph

Hi Everyone! New members are always welcome to post too :-)

Hello SallyisKind.........Its great to have your valued input on the forums and welcome! I am a big believer in keeping things simple and you are breath of fresh air with your post...You are spot on and thankyou! I am going to print out what Sally has posted and stick it on my refrigerator :-)

SallyisKind mentioned.. 'mindfulness is about doing one thing at a time and paying attention to that one thing' Yes!

Hey Moon....always a bonus to have your clarity...Moon mentioned 'Sallyiskind has just outlined precisely what mindfulness is. So there's no need for anyone to wonder any longer' You rock Moon and thankyou x

Hey Quirky...You have a gift where speaking from the heart is concerned and thankyou for your ongoing care..you mentioned an excellent point...'I spoke to an 85 year old woman and she said when I described mindfulness, in my day that was called concentrating one thing at the one time' So very true!

Hey Mez79.....Great to have your input on Mindfulness and thankyou! You have a great focus where your health is concerned! Dont beat yourself up with not being able to exercise mindfulness or even breathing techniques for that matter...I used to have chronic anxiety followed by depression for over 30 years...It does take some time and determination for us to have some peace of mind...I understand about having a brain that is racing at 100kph....Seeing/venting to our doc (GP) frequently can work wonders with having some peace of mind...I really hope you can stick around the forums Mez79 :-)

my kind thoughts and appreciation

Paul

Hi all.

I'm struggling to think of some mindfulness ideas, can someone please give me some suggestions? Thanks.

Tayla

I did some mindfulness today.

Went for a walk as I do daily and although I do it often, I stared up at the sky, the trees, looked at the birds, took in the smell and surroundings. Listened to the crunch sound of the path underneath my feet, it was relaxing. It's been raining here for 2 days.

Tayla

Hello everyone...🤗.

Well done on doing some mindfulness today..Tayla....

I love looking at the sky, especially when the clouds scatter themselves across the blue sky..I like watching their shape slowly change while they calmly drift across the universe..

When I was younger, I would hide behind a big bbq..with pencil and paper and draw the clouds as I seen them...I still like to lay down on my front veranda and just watch the clouds float by...Its so relaxing and gives our mind a rest from the constant chattering...

I hope so much that everyone is doing okay..

Kind thoughts, love and warm hugs..💜🤗

Grandy..

Thanks Grandy, and thanks for the suggestion.

Sounds like a nice idea! Take care.

Tayla x

Mindfulness,

This is something I am trying to use as I cope with starting again in many areas of my life.

I used to get overwhelmed every day worrying about everything I had to do now I focus on one task per day.

It works some time and I am trying.

Quirky

Good on you quirkywords, and everyone in the forums. Even if it's not much, it's still an achievement and everyone should be proud of themselves I think.

I've been trying to do some more mindfulness myself, like when I go on my walks as I mentioned. That's mostly when I do it like today. A Butterfly kept landing on me and it made me smile, aswell as the scenery and bird life as always. The breeze was nice too although it kept blowing my hair everywhere haha, but it was still an enjoyable walk. I just kept breathing in and focusing on everything around me.

Take care all, I love this thread and everyone's comments. I love drawing inspiration from everyone and what I can try, so thanks everybody!

Tayla

Hi Everyone! New members are always welcome to post too

Hey Tayla.....Thankyou for the excellent question about how to exercise mindfulness...I wrote this thread as I found mindfulness a new concept yet I am slowly getting there :-) I found SallyisKind's reply (just above) excellent as its accurate and helpful

SallyisKind mentioned "for me mindfulness is about doing one thing at a time and paying attention to that one thing"

Its not really that complicated until some health professionals mention 'Have you tried Mindfulness?' which is an 'empty' question/suggestion that can be unhelpful to some that dont understand the concept (me included)

Just for me Tayla...to lose ourselves in the moment is mindfulness...as you mentioned above with the butterfly!

Hey Grandy...always wonderful to read your posts and thankyou for sharing your thoughts in the caring way you do...Grandy mentioned 'I still like to lay down on my front veranda and just watch the clouds float by...Its so relaxing and gives our mind a rest from the constant chattering' x

Hey Quirky...your care factor is wonderful and thankyou so much for your heartfelt support...especially after what you have been through with the wildfires...x

Bear Hugs...if thats okay..

Paul