Mindfulness – Awareness.

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.

Awareness is when we are aware, when we recognize, what is occurring. Not just blindly being led around by our thoughts and emotions or by the influence of others.

Addiction is a behavior used to escape difficult feelings or situations, whereas mindfulness can involves conscious and deliberate focus on emotions as a way to disarm them and interrupt habitual patterns, like drug or alcohol use or other obsessions. Addiction is the pursuit of what seems to be lacking, but has really been there all along.

Mindfulness – Awareness is one way to connect to one’s inner resources and see the abundance in life while recognizing that reliance on avoidance techniques will only increase our suffering. After you have a handle on your primary addiction, you realize that it is only a symptom of your problems. You often have the inability to focus clearly and see what is real, and you just continue trying to get what you want or avoid seeing what is really going on. You can exhibit your harmful behaviors through your need to think about your problems all the time, talk about yourselves, your problems, your accomplishments or knowledge. You may deny looking at the feelings that are defining how you view yourself and the world, and act out with complaining, judgments, sex, buying things, withdrawing, controlling, or seeking praise. Choosing to not look at who you are and how you work, denies you the ability to counter your habitual behaviors with behaviors that enhances your live and raises you above the mundane.

We need to regulate our behavior towards our feelings, not away from them. How do we do this? We don’t respond to an emotion as if it is a poisonous snake slithering out from under our desk. We have to be aware of the emotions, and this awareness might signal the need for an effortful self-regulation. We exercise restraint. We acknowledge the emotion without acting out aggressively, freezing up or running away. We begin to utilize our thoughts and emotions with our intelligence, our intuition and wisdom, in healthy and useful ways.

Mindfulness practice puts a space between you and what’s going on for you. Meditation on your breath, your body, your thoughts and your feelings can let you see “this is fear,” “this is joy,” “this is craving”. This is just a thought, it is not who I am, it is just a temporary thought. Mindfulness, invites people to stop, breathe, observe, and connect with their inner experience. It fosters well-being and less emotional reactivity; and thickens the brain in areas in charge of decision making, emotional flexibility, and empathy.

Through mindfulness, we can counter shame and self-blame and develop compassion for self and others, and begin to actually enjoy life, in all of its ups and downs, and recover more quickly from difficult times and depression.

Whenever you begin feeling overwhelmed or you are being pulled in an unhealthy direction, Use your breath; stop and take three breaths, to bring your awareness forward. Believe in yourself, and move beyond being dragged behind your feelings and emotions.

Mindfulness is more than awareness, however. Mindfulness also includes the key feature of nonjudgmental acceptance of our emotions (or thoughts). When people are accepting of their thoughts and emotions (an attribute developed through mindfulness), they may also may be able to recognize emotions as signals to utilize their intelligence and patience, not just rely on a habitual coping response. If I can cultivate mindful-awareness and acceptance, I can better understand when and why I am motivated by habitual responses, and this in turn can promote more willful attempts to exercise the control necessary to stay the course, and take reasonable action until the initial emotions pass. Psychology Today

Mindfulness is not just concentrating on something. Mindfulness is a focused awareness on what is happening in the present moment. It helps us to let go of stress and connect with the beauty and joy of our ordinary daily life. In the present moment; YES all the time. We are often doing one thing, while our awareness is on – I need to get this done, so I can get onto the next thing, and then the next thing.

We are acting with a sense of dissatisfaction and negativity, which becomes what we identify with and causes a constant sense of dissatisfaction. Be aware of when you are giving into old judgmental behaviors, and know you are better than that. With an awareness of how you are going to act, before you act or express yourself, you may realize how amazingly unimportant something is! Or actually that it IS important. You will have the insight that you are either forcing your pettiness on others, or are wilting when you should stand up for yourself. With Mindfulness-awareness we can most often realize we need to relax and not direct everything. Or on occasion, take a stand, using our honesty and kindness to be who we are.

Keep an eye on yourself, not on others.

We find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely on it. —- As we go through the day we pause, (are aware), when agitated or doubtful, and ask (mindfully), for the right thought or action. AA Big Book

You can recognize that habitual patterns are promoting a negativity in you, and you can choose to let it go. When you are completely focused on any task, you are not feeling a sense of being unworthy or superior, or needing anything, you simply ARE, and are present, and it feels right. This is a new experience and will take time and a mindful effort to begin being in the NOW.

Instead of being stuck with and identifying with your self- imposed shortcomings, or those of others, you can CHOOSE to, with an effort, let the negativity be, just let it alone, do not let it enter into you. It is not you, it is only a thought that is untrue, only A feeling, not your true self.

Negativities are unwise reflections. Do not cling to negativity, instead choose to bring your awareness to the blessings you have, and how you might act with kindness and honor.

Carry and protect the serenity in your heart. Water your blessings, grow the blessings you have and you will not be able to keep from feeling the energy and discipline of calmness, control and growth that you naturally have, and will bring to others.

There is no greater service than helping others; it is instrumental and essential in YOUR recovery. This only happens when you get out of yourself, heal yourself, and all of a sudden you find you are taking care of and respecting yourself, and are naturally in service to others.

And you are healthy and happy.

How do you fill your bucket? One drop at a time.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for.
Heart of Recovery web site — fcheartofrecovery.com