Mindfulness Inspiration by Nadege Esteban

I was exhausted and feeling alone as my husband was working abroad at that time. Living more than 12,000 Kilometres from my family and my closest friends was not helpful too. I was negative, reactive and relentlessly complaining about life, my children, others… Eventually living my life on this autopilot mode with no goals. Thankfully it is at this period of my life I have first encountered the concept of mindfulness. I didn’t know much about it but I felt deeply that it was what I really needed. So I signed up for the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) and it turned out to be one of the most reflective and life-changing experience in my life! Firstly, mindfulness has helped me to raise my self-awareness about the way I was living and also my perception towards motherhood:
Motherhood is a real learning and growing experience for parents. However, I was in such a bad state that I was not able to learn and grow from this precious experience. Nevertheless, practising mindfulness has helped me to open my eyes about my thoughts, my emotional state and the way I was not treating myself well. I was living my life with my body present but not my mind! I started to be aware of how my children were mirroring my behaviours. In fact, children learn by imitating their parents most of the time. This shocking revelation has given me the strong urge to change and improve myself. Secondly, by doing my daily mindfulness practices, I got out from this negative circle I was in very quickly and see life differently. I notice that I am feeling more energized and relaxed. I have learnt to be grateful for what I have and developed the burning desire to do something with my life. Finally, I came to the idea of becoming a mindfulness trainer and coach I am now in hope to inspire as many people as possible to give mindfulness a try and adopt it, like I did. Thirdly, mindfulness has raised my awareness about the world. It is not only about me now but about the future of my children, grandchildren and the well-being of people as a whole. I realized that the current world is not the world I would hope for the descendants to come. I wish to see a world with more authenticity, compassion, kindness, wisdom, empathy, passion, positive energy, inspiration and peace; and I want to be part of the movement to achieve this, to make the world a better place. All in all, mindfulness has been the catalyst for me to be more aware, awake and alive! I have grown so much from the inside-out and am more than thankful that it has brought colors into my life. This is why I believe in the power of mindfulness – to wake people up, enable them live to the fullest (as it did for me) and ultimately build a better society we want for our children and grandchildren to come. I will continue to embrace my life with mindfulness and pursue any chances to be able to inspire and empower others to do the same. Will you?