We humans spend much of our lives giving our minds free rein. We let our thoughts roam randomly and fill our minds with constant chatter. Research shows that humans register 6,000 thoughts on average each day. Our obsessive planning, cataloguing and rehashing crowds out our ability to explore our deeper meaning and purpose.

Even when we try to bring our consciousness to the present moment, and to see with a broader awareness, we don’t usually come free of thoughts and concerns. We’re unaccustomed to traveling light. In fact, we pack more than we need no matter where we go, and I’m talking about mental baggage.

To show up with an open, uncluttered mind isn’t easy to do. This is because the “self,” the person that we truly are, isn’t fully known to us. How can we be fully present in the moment without knowing who we really are in it?

Yes, we know ourselves, but that knowing is mostly based on the identity we’ve created, or how we feel about ourselves in a given moment. When we can decipher and then shed the mental baggage we’re carrying we can begin to connect to a deeper reality as awake and aware as possible.

Practicing Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness not only keeps us awake but also keeps us aware of the impermanence of life. As a result, we gain a greater appreciation of it. We become more aware that our lives matter. The moments of our lives matter. We don’t want to waste them — not a single one.

With mindfulness, we’re able to rein in our busy minds and step into the present moment. We start to transcend limited thoughts and beliefs, and delve into the quietude to unveil a higher level of consciousness. Mindfulness opens our minds so that we can see with total awareness. In this pure state of mind, we can participate in life as more thoughtful, sensitive and attuned human beings.

Use these mindfulness practices to live more consciously and free yourself of the mental baggage:

1. Take “Present-Moment Awareness Breaks”

The more present you are, the more aware you are, and the more aware you are, the more present you are. It keeps evolving from there. When practiced consistently, Mindfulness will sharpen your awareness so that you can see beyond the surface.

2. Rein In Your Ego-Driven Thoughts

Learn to value slowing down and quieting the mind by refraining from trying to manipulate the world to feed your ego. Get out of your own way and out from under the drama you create. Don’t let your “small self” run the show. Aspire to heighten your awareness, raise your consciousness and continue on the path of spiritual development with the veils of falseness lifting one by one.

3. Strive To Engage In More Conscious Knowing

Mindfulness is a mental state of being conscious and aware. It helps you find union in reality, free of illusion. Don’t you want to know what this life, this reality, truly is? It can’t possibly be just what’s on the surface. Remaining on the exterior is like living outside of a magnificent palace and never getting to go inside.

4. Tend To Your Spirit

When you feel a type of emptiness, or apathy, that’s your spirit telling you something extremely important. But, if instead of going deeper within to find what’s troubling your spirit, you choose a distraction or way to anesthetize yourself, you aren’t tending to your spirit. Feeding your spirit can mean meditating, practicing yoga, sitting in contemplation, taking a walk in nature, gardening, playing with a pet, making love, painting, cooking, serving someone in need or moving to music. Relish the occasions when your spirit can soar.

5. Open Yourself To A Sense Of Oneness

As you begin to explore life beyond the surface, you begin to know that there’s so much more to experience and know. You are part of the collective, the universe, the cosmos, the oneness and the supreme consciousness that breathes life into us all. Consciously align with it. Mindfulness will lead you down a mystical path. If you keep your mind open and your thoughts illumined, life’s hidden truths will become known to you.

Author Bio

Ora Nadrich is a pioneering Mindfulness expert, international keynote speaker and coach, and the founder and president of the Institute for Transformational Thinking. A sought-after expert in the fields of Mindfulness, transformational thinking and self-discovery, she is the author of Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever, and Live True: A Mindfulness Guide to Authenticity, named “one of the 100 Best Mindfulness Books of All Time” by BookAuthority. Her new book is Mindfulness and Mysticism: Connecting Present Moment Awareness with Higher States of Consciousness (IFTT, Nov. 11, 2021). Learn more at oranadrich.com.

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The type of inflammation caused by excess weight has been associated with numerous health risks, including development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular issues. Now, new research suggests there may be one risk you may not have considered: gum disease.

A study in the Journal of Dental Research found that excessive inflammation linked to obesity increased the amount of myeloid-derived suppressor cells, or MDSCs. These originate in bone marrow and develop into numerous cell types, including a kind called osteoclasts that break down bone tissue.

That’s an issue throughout the body, but can be particularly problematic in your mouth, the researchers note. That’s because bone holds your teeth in place, and when that foundation is weakened, it can lead to gum disease and potential tooth loss.

Related: This Is the Worst Food for Your Teeth, Dentist Says

“Previous research suggests there’s a clear relationship between obesity and gum disease and our study shows that might be due to higher amounts of osteoclasts,” says study co-author Keith Kirkwood, DDS, Ph.D., professor of oral biology at the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine.

Although the study examined two groups of mice—with one group fed a diet that caused fast weight gain and subsequent inflammation spikes—the results are likely similar in people since the mechanism is the same, says Kirkwood.

“This process would not only explain the connection between excess weight and gum disease, but may also shed light on mechanisms behind other inflammatory, bone-related diseases that tend to develop along with obesity,” he adds. That includes arthritis and osteoporosis.

Why does weight gain cause such a dramatic reaction? Some experts have noted that overeating can increase the immune response because the body is stressed by that level of consumption.

In response, the immune system generates excessive inflammation as a way to handle the threat. If you overeat occasionally, that’s not a big deal, because your inflammation will lower once the perceived stress has passed. But, regularly consuming high amounts, and gaining weight as a result, will make that inflammation chronic, and that’s when the health risks begin increasing.

“It’s a balancing act,” says Bente Halvorsen, Ph.D., professor at the Research Institute for Internal Medicine at the University of Oslo in Norway. “But we can reduce the inflammatory reaction by losing weight, or at least by being more conscious of the effects of gaining weight.”

For more, make sure to sign up for our newsletter for the latest health and food news, and check out these Popular Foods That May Be Behind Your Holiday Weight Gain, Experts Say.

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