Five ways to well-being - Notice

Noticing what is going on around you and being aware of the present moment can help to improve wellbeing. It can be easy to get so engrossed in thinking about the past or worried about the future that the present moment is missed. Noticing what is going on in your body, thoughts, feelings and external environment around you, helps you engage in your world and reduces anxieties and worries. This can also be termed Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is about noticing what is going on both internally and externally in and around you. It’s about noticing how your body is feeling, noticing the things that are happening in your space rather than being caught up in one’s thoughts which impact on emotions and behaviors.

Mindfulness enables one to experience the world using one’s senses as you can recognize and acknowledge what you are seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, tasting without applying any judgements to them.

Mindfulness also enables one to notice thoughts and feelings as they are happening moment by moment.

Mindfulness has many useful benefits to mental health and wellbeing;

1.       It helps to manage emotions better as you notice how you are feeling and the train of thoughts impacting on feelings

2.       It fosters a better enjoyment of the world as there is a better engagement with the here and now

3.       It helps in dealing with difficult thoughts and notice their patterns and fosters being able to handle issues better

4.       It helps to work through anxieties and stress and improve calmness

5.       It aids improved attention and concentration as one is able to notice what is going on in the here and now.