5 Tips for Practicing Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a mental practice whose benefits are gaining more traction in the media. Practices that elicit mindfulness are simple. However, it may not be that simple to incorporate them into our everyday lives.
Here are various tips from a mindfulness coach that can help you to benefit from mindfulness.
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Pause What You Are Doing and Breathe
Relax and follow the sensation of you taking a deep breath. Feel your breath as it goes in and out. Making time for resettling yourself, even with simple breaths, can help you feel calmer. Sitting and breathing for a minute can help you focus for the rest of the day.
Do Away With Your Phone
Your body’s attentional system is triggered by the most stimulating thing close to you. In this case, your phone is usually what’s most stimulating. Your phone can temporarily do away with boredom. It can also push you to ignore your surroundings and sensations.
Make time every day to set boundaries for screen time. Put your phone away and make it hard for you to access. Remember, if it is within reach, you may get bored and pick it up without even realizing it.
Prioritize One Thing at a Time
As humans, we prioritize handling tasks once we receive them. This may imply starting something new when you still have five other incomplete tasks. You’d rather finish drafting that email first instead of picking up your phone and replying “Yes.” Remember, switching between tasks may consume more of your time and make you more likely to commit errors. For this reason, you should only concentrate on one thing at a time. That’s why a significant part of the mindfulness concept revolves around doing one thing at a time. It is basically the practice of giving all your attention to one task.
Seek Mindful Moments in What You Do
Mindfulness is all about deliberately performing one task at a time and learning more about the task and how to go about it. The next time you embark on a task that’s seemingly mindless, such as brushing your teeth, tying your laces, washing the dishes, or folding your clothes, make the process mindful. Feel your sensations. Is there a way to get fully immersed in what you are doing so that it becomes fun?
Take Note of the Moves You’ve Made
Focusing on the experience of walking and being aware of those sensations is an effective way to practice mindfulness. You may experience more presence and feel centered if you run, exercise, or dance. This can translate to your mindfulness practice.
You can also focus on the feeling of your feet as you move to achieve mindfulness. When you move your feet on the sidewalk or walk up the stairs to your office, you can form an awareness of what is going on with your feet and notice what comes up.
