What is a Guided Mindfulness Meditation?

Mindfulness Practice is the cornerstone of psychological flexibility and Wellbeing. When you get caught up with unhelpful worries and judgements, it isn’t your fault – this is how we’ve evolved. Our minds use language for co-operating and solving problems, which is both a gift and a curse.

Language is both a gift and a curse

On the one hand, our minds help us talk to each other in ways that make us feel safe, offer support and build harmony. We can predict with great accuracy what will happen under a specific set of circumstances. For example, we know what will happen to our health if we smoke every day, and we know that we will be tired tomorrow if we stay up late tonight. This level of cognitive processing is a uniquely human capability.

On the other hand, our minds create a verbal world full of fear, anxiety, shame and anger that has the potential to exert significant control over what we do day-to-day. We can worry when there is little to fear, judge and criticise our reactions when there is little that we’ve done wrong and imagine conflicts that have little chance of taking place. It is not your fault – this is how we’ve evolved.

Busy Mind V Wise Mind

Unlike any other animal in existence, humans have an exceptional capacity to live in two worlds. Language allows people to live in their minds, inside a verbal world full of judgement, worry and rumination. We call this wordy private world ‘Busy Mind’ because it keeps on thinking and working.

Wise Mind is a different mode that opens up the possibilities to enrich your life by helping you make better decisions in your work, relationships, personal time, health and wellbeing. In ‘Wise Mind’, you adjust your pace, often slowing down to unwind and let go of the day’s struggles. Mindful awareness can prevent you from running off in the wrong direction, which is typical of a busy Mind. It will save you time, energy and unnecessary suffering.

How do you change your habits?

Persistence, Practice and Patience

To improve your wellbeing and alleviate your suffering, it requires you to build up better habits and coping strategies. You may see the benefits of your practice relatively quickly. It may also take weeks of consistent practice to reap the rewards of your effort. Knowing this from the start can allow you to set realistic expectations.

Daily Practice

By practising every day, you will build your skills and improve your wellbeing more quickly. If you persist, even when you forget or decline to practice one day, then you will build the skills that are necessary to feel and function better. Research has shown that when you live your life fully, then you will experience benefits the next day.

Living life Fully – The purpose of daily practice

What are these skills for?  Your investment in a daily practice of guided mindful meditations is to make it easier to live your life as fully as possible. Life will sometimes be painful, stressful and distressing. When this experience moves in, we tend to revert to short-term strategies that seem like a good idea. For example, isolating yourself, eating badly, escaping through TV or excessive alcohol and laying about can seem attractive options, but they rarely make you feel better or give greater meaning or vitality to your life. Practice these guided mindfulness meditations, and you will become more adept at making better choices.