Mindfulness can help improve your relationships. Whether it means attracting the right partner, developing strong friendships, or healing your marriage, practicing mindfulness can positively impact your current and future relationships. If you’d like to learn how to improve your relationships by being mindful, read on!
What is mindfulness anyway?
First off, let’s define mindfulness. Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present and aware of what we’re doing. Everyday life has trained us to operate like clockwork—to get up in the morning and go about our routine without much thought. In this sense, the mind and the body feel disconnected from one another.
When you start being mindful, you’re able to get up in the morning with attention and awareness.
You become aware of the sensations you feel, the sounds you hear, and the thoughts that go through your head when going through your everyday routine. Integrating mindfulness in your life has an entire plethora of benefits.
Some of these benefits include feeling more connected with your mind and body, and being at more ease with your thoughts and your feelings.
How can mindfulness improve your relationships?
A study published in the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension showed that individuals with higher levels of mindfulness report happier relationships. Here are some ways mindfulness can help improve the way we relate to others:
1. Mindfulness helps us appreciate each moment.
The last time you sat down with your family for a meal, did you allow yourself to enjoy the entirety of the experience? Did you just scarf down your food without much thought? Did you enjoy every taste and flavor on your plate?
More importantly, were you actually present with the people you were with? Did you actually talk to them attentively, or look at them when you spoke at them?
Being mindful actually helps us take time to spend time with others, and enjoy the full experience of being with them. This can help us foster closer and stronger bonds with our families, friends, and loved ones.
2. Mindfulness helps us become more self-reflective.
Have you ever found yourself repeating the same mistakes across different relationships? Or do you tend to attract the same kind of partner over and over again?
Practicing mindfulness can help us become more aware not only of our thoughts and actions, but also our habits and tendencies. This way, we get to know ourselves better and become fully cognizant of patterns that we continue to repeat across relationships.
In this way, mindfulness helps us better ourselves. Let’s say you’ve always had an anger management issue, and this has been a problem across different romantic partners. In fact, it may be the reason why you can’t sustain a relationship!
Mindfulness helps you become more aware of your triggers and emotional responses. Then, you can act on these accordingly and even seek professional help. Not only do you heal your relationships with others, but you also heal your relationship with yourself.
3. Mindfulness helps us become more confident.
Believe it or not, living more mindfully can help boost your self-esteem. When your mind is on autopilot, it easily spirals into negative thoughts and feelings. This habitual spiral can eventually grow into chronic anxiety and depression.
When we become more aware of our thoughts, we can practice asserting our own voice against those negative thought patterns. We can change the way we talk to ourselves.
Instead of saying: “I can’t believe I made that same mistake again,” we can assert a more positive voice. We can say “I am aware that I’ve made this mistake, and I forgive myself for this and will continue moving forward.”
Practicing mindfulness and compassion towards ourselves can help us heal our relationships. It can teach us how to treat ourselves with kindness, so we can treat others with compassion and kindness too.
Most importantly, it can also help us be aware of how we want to be treated, so we can avoid getting into abusive and toxic relationships.
How can I be more mindful?
If you’re keen on improving your current relationships or attracting new ones, then work on yourself first. There are many ways to practice mindfulness on your own. You can start by allotting a few minutes a day for meditation and breathing techniques.
You can also integrate mindfulness into your movement routine by going out for a mindful walk or doing yoga. You can also practice mindful eating.
So still wondering how to improve your relationships by being more mindful? Here’s a word of advice: Don’t be too obsessed with achieving your goal. Enjoy the journey, and become genuinely curious about what each moment brings.
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