Mindfulness is also about being aware of your thoughts as they come & go........& tying them to the things that are happening around you so you know where those thoughts & emotions are coming from.......I think mindfulness & awareness go hand in hand from my experience.

I went for year without really being able to tie an emotion with what outside thing was causing it.....so obviously, I didn't know how to deal with it appropriately.....so mostly, I would just deny that I was feeling the emotion unless it was anger when I blew up after having my anger pushed to overflowing.

When we are mindful of the emotions we are feeling & what is really causing them......then we can do what we need to calm down that emotion which comes from the lymbic system internal to our brain (our action/urge center)......so that our pre-frontal lobe (our logical brain)can give it's 2 cents worth to our analyzing the problem & help us determine what action we really NEED to take.

Without the mindfull awareness, it's impossible to really figure out any of what we are going through in our life. Yes, looking at those things we see with a non-judgmental view is of utmost importance.....we need to see everything for WHAT IT IS (nothing more or less).

I think mindfulness is the most difficult part of my therapy.....for most of my 59 years, I was oblivious to what was going on around me.....I knew that things bothered me, but didn't know exactly what or why. I would get into a fight with my mother & as soon as it was over, I couldn't even remember what the fight was about while my mother held onto it for days, weeks, sometimes longer. Being mindful gives us a much better understanding of ourselves & the world around us & how we react to it......not by judgment, but by observance.