Mindful Essay: 10-Minute Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be described as, “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us” (Staff, 2014). The selected book provides detailed information on mindful habits that can be formed to help focus on the present moment and how to create these habits. Research has shown that there are many physiological and physical health benefits associated with the practice of mindfulness. After developing the knowledge of mindful practice, I have been inspired to adapt some of these practices into my own life.
10-Minute Mindfulness
For this assignment I chose to read 10-Minute Mindfulness: 71 Habits for Living in the
Present Moment by Barrie Davenport

Topics of Interest
One topic the book focuses on is how to develop mindful habits that will stick. To accomplish this, the authors suggest to take an existing habit and improve it by adding a mindful intervention. The goal is to commit to the new habit for 30 days in order to establish the habit
10-MINUTE MINDFULNESS – BOOK REVIEW 3 into your daily routine. For example, one of the habits I am choosing to incorporate is drinking a glass of water first thing each morning. I eventually get to drinking a glass of water in my morning routine, but now I will be more mindful about it by setting a glass of water on my night stand before I go to sleep so the water is readily available for me to drink first thing.
The topic of the majority of the book focuses on examples of mindful habits that the reader can choose to use. These interventions are estimated to take between 5-10 minutes to accomplish. Each section has examples of the new habit, followed by a suggested action plan and additional resources. Reading through each of them, I was able to decided which habits I would most likely be able to successfully achieve. I used mindful thinking when considering

Knowing this, I chose to use aromatherapy at bedtime in effort to improve my sleep.
Corroboration of Mindfulness
Evidence based practice shows that there are many benefits of practicing mindfulness, both psychological and physical. According to research done at the University of Minnesota,
“mindfulness can have a positive effect on our thoughts and feelings, including reducing fear and pain” (Haley & Delagran, 2016). With MRI testing, improvements in self-awareness, memory, emotional regulation and communication between parts of the brain were able to be captured.
Slowing down to focus on the present moment and being able to fully observe and accept one’s experience decreases stress, anxiety, and fear (Haley & Delagran, 2016).
Mindfulness also has a physical impact on the body as well. During the practice of mindfulness, the body’s relaxation response is induced. “This response engages the
10-MINUTE MINDFULNESS – BOOK REVIEW 4 parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for restoring the body to base levels after a stress response, calming it down by lowering the heart and respiratory rate, blood pressure,