Focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, especially as part of a therapeutic or meditative technique.

Definition 2 of the word Mindful in the oxford english dictionary

I woke up with a pain flare this morning. This isn’t a new thing, I often do, living with chronic pain does that.

I immediately fell into my usual response of sadness, anxiety and wanting to hide from the pain with chocolate or anything else I could get my hands on.

I didn’t. I chose mindfulness instead.

I took a couple of deep breaths, took painkillers, and sat still for a moment, feeling. Just experiencing what was going on in my mind especially.

I breathed calm towards it, drinking some water.

And then I grabbed my iPad, opened an app for creating fonts, and started to work on a font I’m creating at the moment.

I didn’t do anything other than work on the font for a while.

Then I stopped again, felt my body and mind again. Reflecting.

The pain was still the same, but my mind was so much calmer. I smiled, and focused on my simple joy again, editing the font until I smiled.