So this past month of August we have been talking about, reading about, and sharing about mindfulness/awareness/consciousness/presence. Well, how does this all relate to our own health and well-being? This is a website where I write and speak to nurses on topics of total wellness- so what does mindfulness have to do with it?

Now I am not going to go back into each and every blog post to remind you, but there are so many ways to answer this question! Here are some that we have covered during this past month:

• Mindfulness can help the busy nurse to be present with his/her patients.
• Being aware of our thoughts can impact our feelings and actions thus impacting our experiences at work.
• Eating mindfully can help us experience the food which in turn can help with how our body absorbs and uses nutrients.
• Consciously choosing the words that we use to describe our health and our situation can create more of these beautiful and pleasant experiences of well-being for us each day.
• Being aware of our thoughts, words, and actions can empower us at work each day.
• Realizing that multi-tasking is not a productive way to work is something that any busy nurse can do to make his/her work day more efficient.

I could go on and on. We have shared so many benefits of mindfulness over the month of August. We have had a lot of good discussion and meaningful comments to the posts both on the blog and on the Facebook page.

One other way I would like to point out about how these concepts impact our health is with choices. So what does mindfulness have to do with our health? Well, when we are faced with a difficult decision, the more present and aware we are of our thoughts; the healthier the option we will choose.

Let me give a hypothetical example.

I am trying to be mindful of my weight. I’ve been exercising and eating well as much as I can. However, I’ve been working long shifts. I come home exhausted, drained, too tired to prepare anything really. I typically lay down on the couch for a two hour nap after work and when I wake up reach for the phone book and flip through the delivery ad options. What’s for dinner tonight?

Well, when we are more mindful of our thoughts- we can choose healthier choices. Knowing that my weight is important to me, when I am faced with an option to lie down or to go to the gym- I can go with what I think/know is the right choice. I do not follow how I “feel”. If I follow how I feel every day, I may never make it to the gym or outside for a walk.

Again, when it is time to prepare meals- being aware and conscious of the goals and visions important to me relating to my health and well-being- I can get home from work and head into the kitchen to try out the new easy, healthy recipe I found on the Living Sublime Wellness website (smile). Instead of choosing the easy option, flipping through the phone book and waiting on the delivery man, I am mindful of my thoughts and choose my actions accordingly.

The more present we can be with our thoughts- the more well-being we can grasp. If we flow through life on auto-pilot, following our feelings, we may never commit to choosing the healthy choice. This is just another way to look at how being mindfully aware of our thoughts can influence our behaviors and actions, another way how our presence can help our overall health.

What do you notice? Do you do things on auto-pilot? Or are you able to pause and make that conscious, healthy choice? Which situations do you succeed? Where might you use more awareness next time?