Obstacles to Mindfulness and How to Overcome Them

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Obstacles to Mindfulness and How to Overcome Them
There are several potential obstacles to practicing mindfulness. It's useful to educate yourself about these, so you can plan ahead about how to deal with them.
Some of the common obstacles to mindfulness include restlessness, procrastination, fatigue, lethargy and doubt. There can also be lots of distractions, such as relationship problems, having intense feelings of anger, desire, negative issues from the past and worries about the future. To help you overcome any of these, it can be a good idea to find ways to help you feel more active and mindful. One simple technique is to practice walking meditation. This helps you become physically active and focused at the same time.
Mindfulness allows you to truly live in the present moment. This way, you'll get to experience a greater sense of clarity, inner peace and fulfillment. So, don't allow obstacles to make you feel frustrated or discouraged. Realize that challenges can sometimes be great teachers in disguise. Instead of giving in, consider them as opportunities for you to improve your mindfulness practice.

Benefits of Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness is known to have lots of benefits. It can be a great tool to help people understand and deal with their emotions in a healthy way. Being mindful helps you change your habitual responses, by giving you the space you need to think about your actions and its possible consequences.
Practicing mindfulness has been found to be helpful in improving a person's physical and mental health. Research shows that mindfulness helps decrease symptoms of depression, reduces stress, helps develop better communication skills, promotes better sleep, improves memory, and dramatically reduces pain. It helps strengthen your immune system, which helps lower your risk of experiencing various health problems, such as hypertension and heart disease.
It's important to understand that it takes regular mindfulness practice to help you get more of its benefits more easily. It can be a good idea to find a meditation teacher, or join a meditation class to guide you with your practice.

Mindfulness - The Key to Effective Communication
Mindfulness is considered as the key to effective communication. It teaches you how to become responsive, instead of being reactive. When you're being mindful, you get to have a deeper understanding of how others feel and think. This gives you a chance to think about how you're going to respond to them, rather than to automatically react without giving it a careful thought.
Mindfulness teaches you to become aware of what you're going to say. When you communicate, it's also important to consider the tone of your voice. This can have an impact towards how the person you're speaking to feels.
Realise that an effective communication isn't just about being able to express your thoughts and feelings. It's also about having the ability to listen with mindfulness. Listening mindfully helps you understand what the person you're conversing with is telling you. It also shows that you respect them and give value to what they have to say.