A Wild & Wise Life

Mindfulness isn’t a personality trait. It’s not only for the serene, the silent, the zen-like.

Some days, mindfulness looks like spiraling with awareness. It’s ugly crying on the kitchen floor and knowing you’re crying on the kitchen floor. It’s choosing not to numb out. It’s choosing presence even when that presence is gritty and uncomfortable.

We’ve been sold this idea that mindfulness is a state of calm. But real mindfulness — the kind that actually changes your life — isn’t about being calm. It’s about being with what is.

And sometimes, what is… is messy.

The Myth of the Serene Mind

The wellness world is full of soft aesthetics. Muted tones, slow music, gentle voices. There’s nothin wrong with that — but it’s also not the whole picture.

What about the days when your heart is racing, your thoughts are loud, and the last thing you feel is peaceful? Are you suddenly “failing” at mindfulness? Of course not.

Mindfulness doesn’t mean emotional neutrality. It means awareness. Curiosity. Compassion. You can be mindful in the middle of a panic attack. You can be mindful while angry, grieving, overstimulated, burnt out.

It’s not about stopping the waves. It’s about learning to ride them without abandoning yourself.

Presence Isn’t Pretty — But It’s Powerful

Staying with yourself through discomfort is a radical act. It’s how resilience is built. Not by pushing through or pretending, but by noticing, pausing, and choosing the next small kind step.

When we stop demanding that mindfulness feel a certain way, we begin to access its real power: connection.

Connection to the present moment.

Connection to our bodies.

Connection to what’s real — even when it’s raw.

Start where you are without the need to be perfect. You don’t have to have an elaborate morning routine or sit in stillness for 30 minutes to practice mindfulness.

Try these instead:

 • One deep breath before you open your phone.

 • Naming how you actually feel before you try to fix it.

 • Drinking tea and doing nothing else but drink tea.

 • Lying on the floor and letting yourself just be.

Mindfulness doesn’t demand that you change. It invites you to notice. And in noticing, something soft and steady begins to grow.

You don’t have to be calm to be mindful.

You just have to be willing to show up — to meet yourself with honesty, with kindness, and with space. Let it be imperfect. Let it be real. That’s where the magic lives.