In the midst of grief, overwhelming emotions and/or other stressors, it can be difficult to understand exactly what you are feeling and experiencing. Acknowledging and understanding your present moments and mental experiences is a practice in mindfulness. In practicing mindfulness we learn how to better respond to our emotions, and stop the cycles that can land us in depressive and anxious states. We have linked a stress and mood test below to help you get started.
“Mindfulness is not about being positive all the time or a bubblegum sort of happiness — la, la, la,” she said. “It’s about noticing what happens moment to moment, the easy and the difficult, and the painful and the joyful. It’s about building a muscle to be present and awake in your life.”