What are you thinking of? What are you feeling? Are you attuned to yourself or is your mind full? Are there are a lot of things going on in your head? Are you aware of the negative side effects of having a cluttered mind?
Stop and ask yourself: How does this impact your everyday life? Two of the many negative side effects would be crankiness and forgetfulness. But every day presents us with the opportunity to be mindful. So when the mind is beginning to look cluttered, pause and observe your thoughts.
Mindfulness is paying attention to what’s happening in the here and now in a non-judgmental manner. When you notice yourself catching a thought, try to see where it’s coming from. It may be pointing you to a need. When you are overwhelmed, dump everything down on paper. This can help you be more objective to what really needs your attention in the present moment and to what can wait.
Mindfulness has a lot of pleasant characteristics. Mindfulness is being patient, kind and gentle, non-striving, accepting. It is also the act of letting go. Let us go over each of them briefly.
Mindfulness is being patient with the wandering nature of the mind. It is realizing that minds get caught up with different thoughts, some of which maybe unpleasant. It is not judging yourself for the thoughts that you have. Mindfulness is being kind and gentle to yourself. It encourages compassion and self-love. Mindfulness is non-striving. This does not have the end goal to change the situation. This is accepting and being okay with the “here and now” for what it is. It is not wishing for things to be different.
Mindfulness is accepting. This is to stop wanting things to be a certain way. This is crushing “shoulds”, “musts,” and ideas. This is letting go of self-imposed standards that are not uplifting. Finally, mindfulness is letting go. This is focusing on what you can do and what you have. This is turning the focus towards yourself and accepting who and what you are.
Here are 10 practical steps that you can take towards mindfulness:
1 Meditate. Take some to sit with your mind. Have some quiet time.
2 Slow down and tune in to your body and its senses. Notice your breathing and how everything feels.
3 Don’t argue with reality. It is what it is. Live every day with an open mind.
4 Pay attention to people and your loved ones. Connect and deepen relationships. Appreciate the people surrounding you.
5 Count your blessings. Take note of these good things daily.
6 Practice gratitude. Be happy with what you have and make the most out of it. There is always something to smile about and appreciate in the every day if you tune in close enough to the good things happening for you. Don’t take the little things for granted.
7 Go easy and be kind to yourself. You should be your biggest supporter, your top cheerleader. Uplift yourself and believe in what you can do. But also recognize your limits and don’t forget to hit pause when you have to. Take care of your body.
8 Pause, and notice how it feels when good things happen. Live in the moment, savor, and relish it.
9 Take three deep cleansing breaths daily. Don’t take your breath for granted. Do it slowly and release all the toxins and invite love in!
10 Connect with nature, even just for once a day. Look at the sky, the sun, the clouds, and the plants. We are surrounded by so much beauty! When you take the time to appreciate nature, you also recognize that there is someone more powerful than you! – WITH PAU DE VERA
Photo by Aleks Marinkovic on Unsplash