Mindfulness versus Meditation

Mindfulness is gaining popularity as is meditation. Advocates recommend both as tools to assist us with our modern 24/7 non-stop busy lives that are packed with conflicting demands and uncertainty.

But Mindfulness and Meditation are not synonymous. Meditation is one technique for practicing mindfulness but not the only one. I know many people, including myself,
find meditation difficult as it requires dedication and practice.

So I was very interested to read Ellen Langer, (of Harvard University) who is considered the mother of mindfulness, define mindfulness as the “simple process of noticing new things.”. One of the things that puts busy people of Mindfulness is the misconception that is requires effort. So if you thought mindfulness was just as easy as mindlessness would you be more mindful?

Related Posts

  • Benefits of being Mindful

    In my last post, I distinguished between meditation and mindfulness and described mindfulness as the process of noticing things. If we go on holiday to somewhere exotic, its very easy to be mindful as we are surrounded by new interesting sights, sounds & smells. But what are the benefits of practicing mindfulness in during the working day? There is scientific evidence to suggest we are

    • Seen as more authentic and trustworthy1
    • More productive2
    • Deemed to produce work that is superior3
    I find the above list of benefits, very compelling reason to start being more mindful. References 1. Mindful and Masculine: Freeing Women Leaders From the Constraints of Gender Roles - Kawakami - 2002 - Journal of Social Issues - Wiley Online Library. 2016. Mindful and Masculine: Freeing Women Leaders From the Constraints of Gender Roles - Kawakami - 2002 - Journal of Social Issues - Wiley Online Library. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0022-4537.00151/abstract. 2. Mindful multitasking: The relationship between mindful flexibility and media multitasking . 2016. Mindful multitasking: The relationship between mindful flexibility and media multitasking . Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756321200088X. 3. Orchestral performance and the footprint of mindfulness . 2016. Orchestral performance and the footprint of mindfulness Available at: http://pom.sagepub.com/content/early/2008/10/15/0305735607086053.short.

  • How to prevent Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

    If your training was effective, you should feel some soreness the next day, and for two days at the most. If the second day is significantly worse than the first, and your soreness lasts into a 3rd day or beyond, you have what they call delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it’s a sign that you trained too hard for you.  There are no hard and fast rules on what is too hard as DOMS varies from individual to individual. So now I want to talk about how to prevent Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

    1. Anti-Inflamatories
    As DOMS is created as a result of inflamation, in the past it was considered a good idea for those susceptible to DOMS to take anti-inflamatories e.g. ibiprofen.  However the downside of this approach is that anti-inflmatories reduce muscle growth and excessive use can damage your liver.  Hence this approach has fallen out of favour.

    2. Static Stretching

    As its not that beneficial to stretch cold muscles, start with a gentle warm up to wam up your muscles.  So both your joints and muscls are prepared and get the most benefits from stretching.

    3. Constrast Showering

    Ideally after stretching, jump in the shower and give yourself around of contrast hydrotherapy by alternating the temperature between hot and cold every two minutes. The contrast effect has definitely proven to be effective for reducing soreness and restoring muscle performance more quickly when its used the day after the workout, and any other day that a muscle is sore.

    4. Warm Up

    Ensuring that you warm up before exercising by lightly working the same muscles that you are going to train can go a long way to reducing DOMS and injuries. References Vaile JM, Gill ND, Blazevich AJ. The effect of contrast water therapy on symptoms of delayed onset muscle soreness. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug;21(3):697-702.    

  • Procrastination

    In general in life I am very self-motivated, which is essential when you are self-employed.  However this is the time of year of my annual bout of procrastination kicks in.  Each year I promise myself its going to be different, I will fill out my tax form early and every year, like ground hog day, I leave it as late as possible.  So this year I decided to research options for helping me tackle my procrastination around doing my accounts and filling out my tax form. I read the reason most people procrastinate is that they consider the task unpleasant or boring or they associate unpleasant feelings with the task.  To me this is blatantly obvious as no on every puts of anything they enjoy.  For me tax forms manage to be both unpleasant and boring.  So I decided that this year I would try a new approach to tackle my procrastination. Firstly I decided to focus on the end goal.  As filling out a tax form leaves me cold, I decided that focusing on the fine for not doing it on time would motivate me, after all my money is on line.  As in life I tend to prefer more positive options, I decided to pencil in a treat for myself when I finished, so I am going to arrange a girlie lunch for a specific date so I have something positive to look forward to. In the past I have dedicate one sold lump of time to doing my accounts and tax form and plodded through it.  This year I decide that I would split it down into little chunks as this should help me do it with a smile on her face. In addition some experts recommend roping a friend so that you have a buddy to help motivate you and also making a public commitment to completing something helps motivate you.  So this is my public commitment. So now its just a case of taking the first step and staring.