Introduction: Understanding Mindfulness and Intent

(The following is ‘loosely’ transcribed from this YouTube video.)

Hello, I’m your host, The Real Charles Browne, and you’re watching The Pursuit of Identity & Purpose channel.

Tonight I want to talk to you about the following topic in our pursuit of identity, values, purpose, and passion in life: mindfulness and intent.

The Real Charles Browne on Identity, Values, Purpose, and Passion in Life

So, this is another one of those weird topics where most clients don’t necessarily outwardly ask for this type of advice, but what I find when I’m working with them is that a lot of the complaints and a lot of the struggles and challenges they’re having in their life stem from not being mindful and having an intention when they start every day and every week and every month of their life.

Unraveling Mindfulness: More Than Just Awareness

So, I want to talk to you about mindfulness and what having intention means, and then give you some tips on being more mindful than I have more intention in your daily life.

So, first and foremost, mindfulness is an awareness, an awareness of your surroundings and an awareness mainly of yourself.

Diving Deep into the Concept of Mindfulness

So, mindfulness and an awareness of what you’re thinking, how your feeling, what your levels of stress are, how your emotions are responding, how you feel physically, whether you’re irritated or not, so many of us go through our day push push push push push go go go. We never really stop to check in with ourselves.

The Misconceptions About Meditation

So, typical practitioners, this is where they would immediately recommend meditation; meditation is a great practice and an opportunity for you to be more mindful. Still, it’s not the only way to do that, and a lot of people, unfortunately, when you recommend meditation, immediately get a little turned off. It sounds a bit woo-hoo. It sounds goofy and something you don’t necessarily want to do.

Meditation: A Journey to Mindfulness

But meditation is just an act of sitting still, being still, and paying attention to your thoughts and checking in with your body, checking in with your mind and your subconscious, measuring your emotions, and your physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual state.

The Power of Regular Meditation

So, many people need to do that regularly, and it’s a great way to become more mindful and more aware throughout your day.

The Transformative Effect of Daily Meditation Practices

So, a routine practice of meditation, five or ten minutes daily, will get you in touch with what your mind is feeling and let you better recognize what a calm, normal state is. In the ensuing days and the ensuing stress that comes afterward, you’re better able to recognize it’s when you’re off-center, when you’re feeling high, or when you’re feeling low; you’ll be able to recognize that.

Mindfulness and Non-Judgment: A Journey Within Self

The other important part of mindfulness is allowing yourself to feel things, allowing yourself to react to things without judgment, so one of the most dangerous things you can do to yourself is to constantly second guess yourself and to constantly judge yourself for something that you’ve done or something that you’ve said.

Another significant outcome of meditation and mindfulness is that you can feel and think things. You learn to feel those things and think them without judgment; just let those thoughts into your mind, observe them as an outside observer, and then let them go on, and then you go on with the rest of your day.

Non-Judgment: A Crucial Component of Mindfulness

So, it’s vital to be non-judgemental. It’s essential to take the time to check in with yourself and see how you’re feeling; the benefits of being more mindful and more intentional with your daily practice and with your daily life are you are in control, so one of the only things that we can control in this world of ours is our reaction to certain situations and certain people, the only thing that we can truly control in any situation is how we respond to that situation.

The Art of Being Mindful and Intentional

So, a person who is more mindful and more intentional in their actions and words is much better poised to have a better outcome in just about any situation they find themselves in.

So, the last little tip I’ll give you is that some of us have a ruminating brain. We get stuck on the same thought repeatedly, especially if we’re trying to meditate and find that no matter how hard we try, we can’t let a specific thought go.

Techniques for Overcoming Repetitive Thoughts

So, there’s a great practice that I learned, and it’s called an obsessive practice, or that’s at least what I call it and what it is; imagine you lay down at night, and you get a thought in your mind, and you just can’t let it go, what you do is you make an appointment with yourself to allow yourself to obsess over that one thought for five or ten minutes the next day.

The Obsessive Practice: Managing Persistent Thoughts

It satisfies your subconscious mind, it lets your mind know you’re conscious, and the subconscious mind knows that you’re not ignoring that problem and will think about it. You’re going to come up with a solution. Then the next day, keep your word to yourself, find five or ten minutes where you can be alone and where you can be mindful of yourself and obsess over that one thought, think about it over and over and over and over again, and I think what you’ll find is you can’t do it.

Embracing Mindfulness and Intent: Towards a Balanced Life

You can’t do it for the full five or ten minutes; you think about it several times, and then you just get exhausted by it, or one of the excellent outcomes is you allow yourself to obsess over that thought. Solutions come to mind, things that you hadn’t considered before, a new perspective or characteristic that allows you to solve that problem. In contrast, when we find ourselves obsessing in the normal state, we get that thought over and over and over in our minds. We resist that thought, and when we resist that thought, we resist an opportunity to uncover a solution or to come up with some benefit.

The Benefits of Mindfulness and Intent: A Conclusion

So, there you go. Those are my thoughts on mindfulness and intentions, and I will tell you one of the most incredible things you can do for yourself is to become more mindful and become more intentional in your state, your emotional state, your physical state, your mental state, and then in your actions.

Are you ready to take the next step towards mindfulness and intentionality in your life? Don’t wait! Schedule your Free Strategy Call with Charles Browne today. Uncover your potential, align your values, and unlock your purpose. Book now and start your journey towards a more balanced life!