Many theories of change agree that you cannot change something if you are not first mindful of what needs to be changed.   Mindfulness is a term and idea that is used a lot in different areas and in different ways.  Some people refer to it as a type of meditation, some people refer to it as “being in the moment”, some people might not be sure exactly how to define it.

If you ask the American Psychological Association (APA.org, 2012), they define mindfulness as the following:

“…a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait. While it might be promoted by certain practices or activities, such as meditation, it is not equivalent to or synonymous with them.” (APA.org, 2012)

As a simplified definition for the purposes of our understanding of how mindfulness is key to mental health goals, we can define mindfulness as “Paying attention on purpose”.  The APA definition adds on the element of “without judgment”, however reducing judgment can be seen as its own skill and one that humans have a hard time doing with 100% effectiveness.  As part of mindfulness, we will need to first be mindful of our judgments in order to take steps to minimize them as a skill that we would practice over time, quite like mindfulness itself.

As suggested in the APA definition, mindfulness is often associated with long-standing spiritual practices like meditation.  Using our definition of “paying attention on purpose” mediation promotes the idea of purposefully paying attention to your body, the current moment, and aspects of your spiritual understanding of yourself (if your beliefs include a spiritual or metaphysical element). This practice helps build mindfulness as a cognitive habit which can be beneficial beyond meditation practices.

According to the Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1983), otherwise known as the “Stages of Change Model”, their term for the stage in which one becomes mindful of the change at hand is referred to as the Precontemplation Stage.  In this stage, one would become increasingly aware of, or purposefully pay more attention to, the facts that are related to the idea of change even though the intention to change is not yet present.  This increase in mindfulness is key in navigating through one’s own mental health as many mental health challenges like depression and anxiety specifically decrease this benefit of mindfulness and inhibits desired changes.

Building mindfulness as a strong habit out of a clear and value-driven goal to be more aware and purposeful in your own life is one of the bedrock skills used to treat and protect against mental health challenges. This is done by keeping judgments and perceptions to a minimum while increasing the informative power of facts on your thoughts and emotions.  This is a skill like any other; the more you practice, make mistakes, and then try again, the more effective you will become.  Please take some time today to practice your mindfulness skills.

Looking for new ways to incorporate mindfulness practices into your daily life? Click here.