 Hi, welcome to Seymour's World Commentary on Think Tech Hawaii. You can find all my commentaries and Seymour's World episodes on the Think Tech Hawaii website. I welcome your comments by email, text, or phone. And you can reach me at Seymour.Kazimersky at gmail.com or 808-551-3222. I want to thank you all for your comments on last week's show, as well as all your best wishes for my fight with cancer. I honestly don't have any side effects for my treatment and I feel absolutely fine. So let's go to our topic. Today it is, what is mindfulness? When we are mindful, people find us to be more attractive, trustworthy, and authentic. All of us at one time or another find our minds wander, doesn't yours? Mine does. It's not because I'm getting older. It's because, or because I haven't trained my brain and my body to be mindful of awareness. At first, when this theory was brought to me by a very good friend, I was skeptical because I truly felt that I could control my thoughts, my emotions, and especially my consideration of others. In my last commentary, last week, we called it Looking Beyond. I gave several examples of how we all tend to make assumptions on first glance rather than fact. Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, our feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. Actively noticing things about something you know very well, be it driving or your spouse or anything we think we know very well, is energy begetting. Start noticing people in a different way. What you may perceive as rigidity, that person sees themselves as very stable. What you may perceive as impulsiveness, that person may see themselves as spontaneous and fun. It's all in our perception and may not be right or wrong. You can come from a place of judgment until you see it from another person's perspective. Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them, without believing, for instance, that there's a right or a wrong way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we're sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. When we are less judgmental, we are more open to experience, hence we are more mindful. Our view of an event makes it positive or negative, so stress is on us. How do we relate to stress? Obviously, if we react negatively, we cause negative energy. I think you get the point. So why do we practice mindfulness? I did some research and listened to a blog, which I will be glad to share with you. Just send me a note. And I was pleasantly surprised that being mindful takes very little effort and has amazing results. Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness, even for just a few weeks, can bring a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits. Here are some of these benefits, which extend across many different settings. Mindfulness is good for our bodies. A seminal study found that after just eight weeks of training, practicing mindfulness meditation boosts our immune system's ability to fight off illness. We could all use that, right? And I'm practicing mindfulness right now. Mindfulness is good for our minds. Several studies have found that mindfulness increases positive emotions while reducing negative emotions and stress. Indeed, at least one study suggests it may be as good as antidepressants in fighting depression and preventing relapse. Mindfulness changes our brains. Research has found that it increases density of gray matter in brain regions linked to learning, memory, emotion regulation, and empathy. Mindfulness helps us focus. Studies suggest that mindfulness helps us tune out distractions and improves our memory and attention skills. Another point, mindfulness fosters compassion and altruism. Research suggests mindfulness training makes us more likely to help someone in need and increases activity and neural networks involved in understanding the suffering of others and regulating emotions. Evidence suggests it might even boost self-compassion as well. So how do we cultivate mindfulness? It really is a change in lifestyle. I was in Thailand last month and attended a clinic that is very involved in cancer treatment. Obviously I was very interested in what it could do for me. Guess what one of the major factors in the treatment schedule was? Mindfulness practiced as meditation. They emphasize that although mindfulness can be cultivated through formal meditation, that's not the only way. It's about living your life as if it really mattered, moment by moment by moment by moment. Here are a few components of practicing mindfulness. One, pay close attention to your breathing, especially when you're feeling intense emotions. Notice, really notice what you're sensing in a given moment, the sights, the sounds and smells that ordinarily slip by without reaching your conscious awareness. Recognize that your thoughts and emotions are fleeting and do not define you an insight that can free you from negative thought patterns. Tune into your body's physical sensations from the water hitting your skin in the shower to the way your body rests in your office chair. If you don't believe me, try just one of these keys and you will realize that the sensations both in your brain and your body will immediately be heightened by a wonderful feeling of acceptance and awareness. That's what mindfulness is all about. My name is Seymour Kazimurski. You're watching a commentary of Seymour's World. You can find all my commentaries and Seymour's World episodes on the Think Tech Hawaii website. I welcome your comments by email, text or phone, and you can reach me anytime at Seymour.Kazimurski at gmail.com. Aloha, have a wonderful week.