8 Ways To Practice Mindfulness During A Busy Day

Nov 17, 2020

8 Ways To Practice Mindfulness During A Busy Day

We all have common questions like, “How can I manage stress? What does it mean to be mindful? How do I meditate correctly?”

With increased competition, tasks at hand and turbulent environment at the workplace, we have lost the competency of being in the present and being fully aware of what we are currently doing. Here and now.

As said by Jon Kabat Zin, “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

More often than not, when we have too much stress we lose the ability to concentrate. Our mind tends to go on a trip to future situations, cause the burning questions to rise: “What will I do? Will I get into trouble? What is going to happen next?”. The prolonged feeling of such uncertainty and worry can be developed into anxiety and even panic attacks.

However, there is a way of releasing this state of panic and maintaining a feeling of peace and calmness instead.

The secret lies in focusing on what is happening in the moment and what we have now rather than thinking of what we lack and what we possessed in the past.

Meditation and mindfulness practice are parallel activities. The popular query amongst people is how do we meditate, how to stop thinking while meditating, and what are the right meditation techniques.

However, the best meditation tip is when you are meditating ‘Don’t Try To Meditate’. Don’t put your efforts into stopping to think, as the harder you try to push your thoughts away the more they come. It will become merely an activity that makes you feel fatigue and rather than being a stress reducing and calming practice, it becomes a task for you.

At HeartVoice, we invited Harsheeni Rajoo, an Educational Advisor, Senior Educational Therapist and a Yoga and Mindfulness teacher to discuss the simple yet effective ways of reducing stress through mindfulness.

Here’s 8 magical ways of being mindful that any of us can incorporate while going about our daily tasks:

1. Embrace the moment you are in since you have never been in this before.

Every moment is new, even if it is your usual Monday. You have never lived THIS particular Monday before, and you never will after the moment passes by. There is no day similar to one another. Therefore, it is up to us to pay attention in order to notice all the beautiful things changing around us.

2. When you wake up in the morning take 3 long deep breaths.

As simple as that. Before reaching out to your phone, talking to a family member, petting a dog, recognise your awakening first. Take a few deep and slow breaths to awaken your body and mind fully.

3. As soon as you wake up, think of 3 things you are grateful for.

In this competitive world, we always aim for more. However, we should remember to cherish what we already have at this particular moment.

4. Befriend yourself with your past experiences and become friends with the current moment and experience.

You are already enough.

5. Practice Mindful Eating.

Try to pay attention to how many times you chew your food, how you drink your cup of tea/coffee. Extend your gratitude towards what’s there on the table in front of you. What’s more you can think about who has made it possible for you to eat that particular meal and what all challenges they must have faced. Avoid eating while watching something or doing any work as that will hamper your effort of scrutinising the moment you are in.

6. Mindful cooking.

Is another interesting way to practice mindfulness. Right from the time you are slicing or washing vegetables, how conscious you are and how good your energy reflects on the taste of the food.

7. Journaling.

There can be various ways to maintain a journal. You can write three things you are grateful for, what’s the best thing that happened today or sum up your entire day in just one line. You could also note down your goals. When you are setting goals, try to be as specific as you can and define a time period for achieving those goals. You can even doodle something with the colourful pencils.

8. Observation too helps in practicing mindfulness.

Mindfully observing people while they talk, their body language, listening to them and trying to connect with them are all important factors to pay attention to.

Being mindful all times will immensely help in acknowledging things around us, develop a feeling of reverence towards what we have in the current moment and help detach ourselves with what has happened in the past and the worries of the future. Mindfulness tremendously impacts our decision making course as well cause we make choices and judgements with a calm mind when we are mindful.

Consciously practicing these tips of mindfulness in everyday chores will ultimately increase ones capacity to deal with daily stress levels, make meditation relaxing and easy to do which eventually will make one feel rejuvenated every time they wake up in the morning.