Life is difficult and being human is not easy, living in Ireland at present can be really stressful. We have longer working hours, longer commutes as we balance family life with work demands. In many ways there is no workweek anymore and the boundaries between work and home have become blurred. Stress is an unavoidable fact of life and any circumstance that requires change is potentially anxiety-provoking. Taking an exam, meeting with an authority figure, loss in of a loved one, having a near accident, starting a new job, or traveling by airplane. These human experiences may all invoke stress and fear. Our minds can get caught up in serious bouts of confusion and suffering.
In our present culture, doing is valued before being and our bodies can end up paying the heavy price of constantly trying to achieve the next thing. Mindfulness has become the buzzword synonymous with our present era. John Kabat-Zinn is the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is the man responsible for bringing mindfulness into mainstream medicine.
John Kabat-Zinn simply defines mindfulness as “our willingness or ability to show up fully in our lives and live them as if they really mattered”. Mindfulness is profoundly nurturing and life-transforming for those who undertake the LIfeChange program. Mindfulness is not just a good idea, even though it is good idea to be more present and less judgmental to yourself. However, to be effective, mindfulness requires an embodied engagement, it’s a practice, cultivation, a process, and one that unfolds and deepens over time… IT’S A WAY OF BEING.