👉Why Mindfulness Matters in Primary Care

I think mindfulness (the practice of being present in the moment without judgement) is a helpful tool to bring more ease to our days. I used to think of mindfulness as mostly being present to what is happening around us but lately I have been thinking about how mindfulness is useful for being present to our own thoughts and physical body. 

In my practice as a primary care provider, I often recommend that people keep a symptom diary/tracker when something is wrong. It can help identify potential triggers or patterns in their symptoms. This might be someone’s first foray into mindfulness. 

It's a hard practice - learning to notice, without judgement. Then, often comes the harder part. Do you do anything with what you’ve noticed? Sometimes, it’s just information and we can let it go. Sometimes, it’s something we can or should act upon. 

Notice you get a headache every time you have a third cup of coffee? Ok! Then you get to decide to keep having that third cup or work on replacing it with something else. At the very least, you have some information to share with your provider when you make a visit about your headaches. 

Practicing now can help make sure we have some mindfulness muscles when we really need them - whether it’s a really stressful day or we feel something physically that we need to investigate. 

Lots of love, 
Caylin