There has been increasing awareness on the benefits of mindfulness. Indeed, the practice of mindfulness has much to offer including improved concentration, management of stress and anxiety, improved quality of relationships…the list goes on!

However, I have noticed how, like so many other offerings to improve our quality of life, mindfulness practice has so easily become another to-do on our life lists. For those amongst us prone to perfectionism and perhaps with an overly zealous inner critic to keep her company, learning about the benefits of mindfulness can all too easily merge into an obsessive practice – or something we just beat ourselves up for not doing enough of.

Much of how mindfulness is referred to in the self-help and mental health industries is as a fairly formal practice with a set time of duration and recommended quantity (your 20 minutes’ morning meditation, for instance). There is much evidence behind these benefits and I have seen personally and professionally how these can enhance our lives. But when many of us are living at frenetic paces, with so many other recommendations in our ‘how I should be living better’ file (see journaling, creative practice, more time with loved ones, time in nature, eating recommendations, reading that ever-increasing pile of bedside books…) ironically the pressures of mindfulness can just add to the stack of self-imposed expectations.

Also, while we might need mindfulness most when we are tired and stressed – it is often the thing we feel least like doing. Sure, some loving self-discipline can be useful – but so can taking a bit of a holiday from the pressure and expectations we put on ourselves. Rather than forcing ourselves to jump through another self-improvement hoop when we can barely muster the energy to finish our day, maybe we could just let ourselves rest, be distracted, not be present and thus recuperate a little more approachably.

Mindlessness can offer our ever-alert brains time to switch off in a way that is different to a mindfulness practice but perhaps still offers something very valuable. A value which might lie in the acceptance of ourselves and where we are at; which mindlessness – when done with celebratory abandon- can facilitate with glee.