Business Fit Magazine September 2019 Issue 2 | Page 20

Mindset & Emotion Happiness and Unhappiness are states of mind Due to our lack of mindfulness, we are letting THE WOLVES, who are a minority in society manipulate us for their benefit. We have become more and more educated but less and less wise. We need to increase our awareness, and this can be done just by being mindful. Mindfulness is not a religious practice as many people think, it is a secular practice which anybody can do. It is simply the art of living in the present, without judgement. Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention to the things we normally would not even notice and becoming aware of our present moment experience as it arises. When we practice Mindfulness, we pay attention to what is happening in our mind, in our body and to our thoughts, to the stories we tell ourselves, as well as to the emotions and physical sensations as they arise. It’s just like becoming our own observer. Marketing campaigns are designed in such a way that we are unconsciously attracted towards these addictive external sources (circumstances and people). The desire to acquire more and have a better tomorrow means we have become slaves of the external stimuli. But once we have it, it’s not enough and that better tomorrow gets postponed to the next tomorrow. As most mindful teachers say, most of the time your mind is like a balloon in the wind, blown here and there and everywhere by your external and internal circumstances. Have you experienced that feeling? When you feel nothing is in your control? So, if you really wish to have a good day, every day, there are things you need to do. The first is to slowly and progressively reduce outsourcing happiness and unhappiness on people and circumstances. In other words, we need to stop attributing our happiness to what’s going on externally, and we need to stop blaming others -- especially blaming others – for our unhappiness. While we continue to hold others responsible, happiness will be very unstable and illusive. Our job is to actively cultivate a source of peace and happiness coming from inside our own mind. Here’s something to commit to memory: “Happiness and Unhappiness are states of mind and therefore their real causes cannot be found outside the mind.” With a peaceful state of mind, we will be happy regardless of people and circumstances. If our mind is unpeaceful or agitated, then even in the best of circumstances, we will find it impossible to be happy. It’s not what is happening that’s making us happy or unhappy, it’s how we respond to those things which determines whether we are happy or unhappy. Our state of mind is crucial in determining happiness or unhappiness. According to the HSE (Health and Safety Executive), in 2016/17 there were 12.5 million working days lost to stress, depression or anxiety, with over 526,000 people in the UK reporting that work-related stress was making them ill. This amounts to nearly 40% of all work-related illness. Mindfulness helps to induce a state of relaxation and we reap the benefits like decreased stress, improved general health, improved academic success and resilience, because the limbic part becomes less active and the human part becomes more active. While everyone has something to gain from practicing mindfulness, there is one caveat: to reap the maximum benefits of mindfulness, it truly needs to be a practice, meaning that it must occur regularly and often. “Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” – Buddha Bhupinder Sandhu is a mindfulness coach, a devoted mindfulness 20 practitioner and Founder of Aksa Valley. Sharing the art of mindful living with the World is his passion and purpose. He believes that anyone can create the kind of incredible inner change he has undergone once they know how. [email protected] www.manzeerasolutions.co.uk www.aksavalley.com 21