Whether COVID has forced you to slow down or made your life a whole lot busier, it can help to pause and tune in to what’s going on, how you feel, and what you need.
Here’s how.

What’s the best way to describe your mind right now? Is it like a scary neighborhood at night?  Your kid’s messy bedroom? A sunny meadow? A foggy forest? A range of snowy mountains? What do you like about it? What lights things up? Anything you would like to change?

In checking in with yourself, you were just being mindful.

For some, the COVID pandemic has been a time to pause, to be at home, to connect with family, to have life be simpler. For others, pausing is a real challenge; for example, you might be working long hours as a healthcare worker, dealing with unemployment, or trying to save your business. Either way, odds are you are thinking about a lot and feeling a lot of emotions. The future is uncertain. You may be worrying about yourself and others. One way or another, COVID has changed your life. Mindfulness can’t change it back, but it might still really help.

What Does it Mean to be Mindful?

Being mindful is about paying attention in a particular way.¹ You do it on purpose. In the present moment. Without judging. It is the difference between noticing your drive home or your walk outside, versus being on autopilot and not remembering what happened. You are more likely to notice what you are eating, versus finding that the cookies are gone, and you don’t remember tasting them. Being more mindful means being more aware of your thoughts, your feelings, and the world around you. You spend more time in the present, and less time caught up in past regrets or fears about the future.

Why Does Being Mindful Matter to Me?

The goal of mindful awareness is to help you live a fuller, healthier life. Everyone can benefit from it, whether they have health problems or not. It is an overall approach to how you see the world, and how you live in the world. It can help you stay connected to what really matters. It can help you relax better.² It improves mood.³ With practice, you can even use it to change how your brain is wired, in many helpful ways.⁴

We don’t have studies yet about how mindfulness specifically affects COVID-19 infections, but we do know it helps our immune system work better in many ways.⁵ For example, people who practice mindfulness have more of an immune response to getting a flu shot.⁶  Being mindful also helps with anxiety and depression.⁷ It probably helps with chronic pain,⁸ post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),⁹ and many other health problems.¹⁰