Improve Your Daily Mindfulness
I’ve found in my clinical work that helping clients to become more mindful of their environment can greatly improve their feeling of well-being. Mindfulness helps us to remember to slow down and experience life. These six actions can help to improve mindfulness in daily life.
1. Stay Present
Stay present in what you’re doing. If you’re out for a walk, listen to the birds and smell the scents around you without your earbuds in your ears. Stop and smell the flowers and enjoy them. Pluck a blade of grass and feel the sensation in your fingertips.
2. Experience Food Taste
The next time you eat, pay attention to your food. Imagine yourself describing the taste to someone who has never tasted it before. Is the taste sweet or salty? What is the texture? Does it remind you of anything from your childhood?
3. Engage With Those You’re Around
Listen to those around you and pay attention to them when they’re talking. What words are they choosing? Does their body language vibe with their verbal communication? Note how engaged they are with the conversation. Give your full attention to them and look into their eyes while conversing Allow them the same courtesy.
4. Pay Attention To Your Instinct
Everyone has instinct or an internal voice. Often, we don’t listen to it. Pay attention to yours. Whether it be self-critical or a warning light learns to listen to it. Picture it as your spirit softly speaking to you. You can hear the voice telling you you can do this or that you need help. You may not hear it audibly, but you sense it in your very being. Learn to be more mindful of such thoughts and recognize the voice within you. Shhh, listen carefully to this voice.
5. Let Distracting Thoughts Float Away
It is very distracting to have thoughts that aren’t where they are supposed to be. Learn to allow distracting thoughts to float away and deal with them when the time is right. Stay in the moment and enjoy where you’re at when you’re there. Picture a helium balloon as the distraction and watch it float up into the sky to return when it’s time to worry about it or deal with it.
6. Focus On Breathing
For the most part, we breathe without giving our breathing any thought. Take some time to focus on your breathing pattern. Is your breathing quick and rapid? Is it slow and shallow? Take some deep breaths and focus on how you’re breathing. Are you blowing all of the air from your lungs to empty them? Take a deep inhale and fill your lungs then release your breath all of the ways. When you’re stressed, this is a great way to calm down. When you catch yourself rapid breathing stop and take some deep breaths allowing your lungs to fill completely and then blow the air all of the ways from your lungs completely emptying them.
