Mindfulness

With the process of organizing one’s life for better stress management comes the darker side of getting sucked into the never ending to-do list. The section on scheduling already touched on making sure to schedule some time for yourself; however this may only happen once a week or less. Mindfulness is designed to use in any moment during any task to disengage your mind from churning over the to-dos and focus on the here, now, and the beauty of simply being alive.

Mindfulness is easy, but is also something you have to want. This is because it takes mind power to stop, redirect, get off the to-do list train, and put aside thoughts of past experiences or future plans and simply dwell in the now.

A mindful moment is one where you connect more with the world around you – be mindful of what are you looking at, what do you see, what kind of lighting is going on, what’s the ambience or weather/temperature, what colors do you notice, what do you smell, where are your feet, what do you feel, what do you hear, what background noise may be on the peripheral of your hearing, etc…

Also be aware of your thoughts and feelings – a mindful moment is observed but not manipulated. The goal is not to improve on the moment, but to be in the moment. Mindfulness not only anchors “being” into the present, but gives permission for the moment to be just fine as it is. Mindfulness is sitting where you are as you are.

Our brains are not very good at sitting still. Practice makes perfect – mindfulness will become easier over time, and also become more effective over time. Guided meditations can create more of a space to explore mindfulness and calm the mind. Here are some of my favorite resources:

Examples of relaxation techniques I’ve learned from Headspace that have been of great value are deep breathing (specifically 4 breaths on inhalation over 4 sections, holding for 4 seconds, and breathing out over 6 seconds), and the practice of noting. See this video: