Mindfulness
Mindfulness can be defined as paying attention to and being aware of the moment. This means to pause, take time and be present with where and who you are. But how can we be mindful? Mindfulness can look like many different things to many different people. It can mean taking time to meditate, going on a walk, being present with your yourself or just taking a few breaths and feeling your body.
There have been many benefits that have been shown to be connected to mindfulness. There is a strong correlation between mindfulness and good mental health. A study done titled Responding mindfully to unpleasant thoughts and images: reliability and validity of the Southampton mindfulness questionnaire showed that there is a strong correlation between practicing mindfulness/meditation and dealing with unpleasant thoughts and images in a healthy manner (Chadwick et al., 2008). Therefore, when we are mindful we are more capable of having good mental health and awareness even when facing the distressing situations that come from daily life.
References
Chadwick, P., Hember, M., Symes, J., Peters, E., Kuipers, E., & Dagnan, D. (2008). Responding mindfully to unpleasant thoughts and images: Reliability and validity of the southampton mindfulnessquestionnaire(SMQ). British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47(4), 451-455. doi:10.1348/014466508X314891