How to Bring Mindfulness into Your Day
With fast-moving schedules and deadlines, it’s hard to prioritize your well-being. For a long time, living a healthy lifestyle was primarily defined by diet and exercise. Through the rise of meditation practices and self-care, people are starting to place an emphasis on taking care of their mental and spiritual health, in addition to the physical. When striving to live a healthy lifestyle, your mental well-being is just as important as physical well-being.
What is Mindfulness?Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. It’s often used as a technique in therapy and meditation. Mindfulness may seem like an impossible feat that requires years of training and focus but that’s not the case! Here are some simple ways you could become more mindful every day in 15 minutes or less:
1. Practice Being PresentWe are constantly surrounded by distractions, from our cellphones to our planners. It’s easy to have your mind in the past or the future. Centering yourself in the present moment is the key to mindfulness. Focus on what’s around you. What are your senses picking up? Keep it simple. What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you see? Focus on those sensations.
2. Approach Your Thoughts and Feelings with CuriosityMindfulness isn’t the state of no longer having intrusive thoughts. The goal isn’t to achieve a completely blank mind. Even the most practiced meditators will have intrusive thoughts. However, a skilled meditator will acknowledge their thoughts without fixating on them. Try to approach all your thoughts with a light-hearted curiosity, instead of a strict refusal. When a thought pops into your head, think of it as a cloud moving across the sky and let it roll by.
3. Steady your BreathRhythm is naturally soothing to us. That’s why you often see children rocking or sucking on their thumbs to self-soothe. Your breath is a natural rhythm. If you need a calming mechanism throughout the day, take a set of four deep breaths. Count to eight during your inhale, hold your breath for eight seconds, and then exhale to a count of eight. Focus on how your chest rises and falls. Connect yourself to your breathing.
4. Ground Yourself PhysicallyAnother technique to staying present is focusing on what your body is feeling or doing. It’s easy to operate on autopilot and take your body for granted. We don’t often consider that our body is generating energy constantly with a pumping heart and breath. Ground yourself physically by taking inventory of your bodily sensations. Start with your toes- squeeze them together and release. Are they cold? Slowly move up your legs into your torso and arms. Note any discomfort along the way and adjust to make yourself more comfortable.
5. Have a Sense of HumorThe most important skill to have when caring for your emotional wellbeing is a sense of humor. Practicing mindfulness will feel silly at times. It’s okay to laugh. In fact, laugher feeds the soul and can increase happiness. There will be days that are harder than others. Don’t punish yourself for intrusive thoughts or anxious spiraling. Instead, take the hard days with a grain of salt and a sense of humor. Be gentle with yourself and it will make all the difference.
Mindfulness has become more prevalent in our culture with the spread of lifestyle influencers and yoga classes. You deserve some much needed R&R. Take some time to reconnect with your self-care by practicing mindfulness today.
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