THE IMPORTANCE OF MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness has been the hottest word in the health and wellness spheres for the past few years but if like many of us, you still don’t know exactly what it means - let alone how to be more mindful - author, coach and meditation teacher Conor Creighton is on hand to educate and guide you. Put simply, mindfulness is self-awareness. It’s a type of meditation that asks us to focus on being aware of our thoughts, feelings, bodies and the world around us. “It’s not about blocking your thoughts,” says Conor. “It’s virtually impossible to do that. Meditation and mindfulness are about learning to live with thoughts by not believing every single one of them.”

First discovering meditation in 2012, Conor quickly became immersed in the study of mindfulness meditation and Vipassana meditation. He trained in India with the Dalai Lama and at the Redwood Institute in San Francisco and has gone on to lead several long retreats and teach his practices all across the globe. “I meditate every day,” he says. “It’s like brushing my teeth at this stage. I feel like I’ve forgotten something very important if I skip it. That’s the only real consistent routine I have.”

Having practised meditation for just shy of a decade, you’d assume Conor is well versed in the art of mindfulness - but even he can still find wonders in places you’d least suspect. “To stay grounded, I avoid the news as much as possible but a recent discovery for me has been moving in with my girlfriend and her cat,” tells Conor. “The cat is called Little Bit and she is teaching me to be a little lazier, which is a timely lesson for someone who has always been a bundle of nervous energy. Living with her (and my girlfriend, I should add!) is very grounding.”

Given the growing climate crisis, it’s no wonder that we’re the most stressed-out generation, but leaning into mindfulness can help ease that anxiety. “Our minds are wanting machines,” explains Conor. “Learning to train the mind means you’re learning to not always react to this wanting. Simply put, you’re not tricked into buying everything you see. This is a great way to practise sustainability and help our planet.”

CONOR’S GUIDE TO BEING MORE MINDFUL:

• 1. Do something adventurous on your own. This is the best way to get to know who you are and what you’re capable of. Spoiler Alert: you’ll most likely discover you’re way more capable than you imagined.


• 2. Close your eyes and picture someone you love. Then simply feel that love for that person. Feel it flowing through your body. Recognise that it’s actually you generating it. Marvel at how when you want to you can flood your whole body with love simply by using your imagination.


• 3. Get into the habit of creating a ten-minute window or even a five-minute window, every day where you do nothing: no phone, no books, just you, your tedious thoughts and perhaps some glimpses of the mystery of what it’s like to be you.

To truly reap the benefits of mindfulness, it takes time and practice. For Conor, it wasn’t until he made one realisation that he himself felt he had truly mastered meditation. He learned that meditation has just one goal: to recognise that this is it. In his new book, Conor brings a refreshingly practical approach to meditation and contemplation in what can feel like an overwhelming world. “The key to happiness is recognising that, yes, this is it,” he opines. “Growing up for me, ‘this is it’ was an expression that my dad would always use on the first day of summer. He’d pull the cushion off the sofa, transfer it to the front doorstep, and go out with the Sunday World, a cup of instant coffee, roll a cigarette and take his shirt off. For me it meant, this moment is all there is and I’m satisfied. And that’s as good a definition of mindfulness as I’ve come across.”

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