Why Practice Mindfulness, Why Now?

This is the best time to explore how mindfulness can improve our well being. Mindfulness has been scientifically proven to relieve stress and anxiety. When there is so much beyond our control, how do we feel content with the unknown?

Reliance on God and knowing that everything is within His control, and His alone.

Being mindful of that core belief and practicing mindfulness in our everyday lives should help alleviate our anxiety. God is aware of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. He is All-Aware and controls all that happens in the Heavens and Earth. So if we feel lost or helpless, we should always remember and be mindful that only He has the ultimate power to change circumstances. Through mindful remembrance of God and our prayers, He hears all and eases our hardship.

There is so much beyond our control, but we can control our own personal thoughts and actions.

When we take time each day to reflect on our thoughts, we concentrate on the nature of these thoughts, we begin to recognize which can feel positive or negative. When a negative thought enters our mind, we can pause to “label” it as a negative thought and then allow them to quickly pass. We then refocus ourselves around our more positive thoughts. These steps may not come so easily, at first, but if we devote time to reflect and “label” our thoughts, that is one way to practice mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness can calm the nervousness and uncertainty that creeps into our hearts and minds. Instead of dwelling on the unknown “what-ifs” of the future, we can learn to firmly ground ourselves in the present.

Distractive thoughts can increase our levels of stress.

Stress contributes to all sorts of physical and mental health issues, such as: feelings of sadness or depression, fatigue, irritability, lack of motivation, lack of attention, just to name a few.

What if we were told that being mindful of how we do things and how we process our thoughts and emotions will help alleviate those types of distractive thoughts? Resulting in lower stress levels, feeling motivated, energized and able to be more on task in your daily life. Learn to control our mind and ultimately not let it control us toward unwanted emotions and actions. 

Practicing mindfulness is when we are able to pay attention to our thoughts and emotions in the present moment in a non-judgmental way. It's intentional, so that we know how to appropriately respond to what is going on around us.

When we are mindfully aware of God's presence and His knowledge over all things, only then we can become more comfortable with whatever is being thrown at us. The more we practice mindfulness, the easier it becomes to instinctively combat those disruptive feelings and thoughts through the clarity of awareness. In our own way, we self-regulate how we perceive what is going on around us AND within us. This healthier approach allows us to be kinder to ourselves.

So what is considered an act of mindfulness?

Check out our next blog post about “Mindfulness in our Daily Lives”, and if you would like to join us on our journey towards a more mindful life: Consider following Mindful Muslim Life for more tips and resources.