Mindfulness in addition to mindset
Don’t be afraid that mindfulness practice will make a hash of your established mindsets. They can play nicely together if you allow each some room to breathe.
What are the simple definitions of mindset and mindfulness?
Mindset: the established set of attitudes held by someone.
Mindfulness: a state of active, open attention to the present.
Your mindset along with a mindfulness practice are important frameworks that complement each other. Your awareness of how your perceptual structures work can help you form mindsets that are beneficial for the way you want to live.
Taking mindful action
Being mindful can be broken down into its main elements and the actions you can take on those main ideas. In many ways, it is like a mind map. Here are a few examples:
A) Mindful Movement Ideas-Yoga-Tai Chi-Walking in the Forest
B) Mental Mindfulness-Visualizing-Meditation
C) Creative Mindful Ideas-Journaling-Classical Music
D) Ritual Mindfulness-Silent Prayer-Contemplation in A Personal Space
When making mindfulness your daily routine, you are brought to a greater awareness of your inner self and surroundings. Knowing and loving yourself allows you to shift love and kindness to others. In this hectic world, people are losing a connection to themselves, others, and the surrounding world. Daily mindfulness is your way of reinforcing all those connections and the pathway to a happy life.
Choosing a mindful practice
People are unique individuals. This means that how you choose to practice mindfulness may not work for others. It becomes an experiment, where you test out an array of mindfulness exercises or practices and then take note of which ones benefit you the most.
The previously mentioned ritual movement and mindful movements are a few of the main branches in the list. To get started with mindfulness, try one or all the following basic mindful practices and build up from there. Boost your practice by turning it into a routine.
1. Yoga is an excellent choice for physical health, and the mental health benefits are also outstanding. When you feel better physically, it reduces stress, depression, and anxiety. There are many yoga styles, including mindful yoga, where you are focusing less on the physical aspect and putting it more on the overall awareness of self. There are four poses you can try in Mindful yoga that will start you on your journey. They are Mountain Pose-Tree Pose-Low Lunge-Reclining Bound Angle Pose.
2. Mindful writing will help you to move thoughts from your brain to paper. It is helpful to do it right after a meditation session. In mindful writing, you can close your eyes for a moment and let thoughts announce themselves. Then open your eyes and just let the words flow onto the paper. There is no structure in this, instead, you just use free flow and see where it takes you.
Write a sentence or two, then stop to breathe in deeply and exhale. Feel the warmth in your body and let gratitude and love enter when you breathe. Start writing again for a few moments and then take a break and breathe. While you are doing your writing and breathing, you will enter a new meditative state that gives you peace and happiness. Try mindful writing every day at the same time.
3. The practice of daily mindful meditation is one of the most basic ways to add mindfulness to your day. Meditation can be done for 5 minutes or 30 if you prefer. As with mindful writing, try to do it at the same time of day and make sure to have a quiet space.
Mindful meditation has many health benefits, reducing depression, anxiety, and sleeping issues, for starters. It is also highly recommended for you to teach your children mindful mediation due to it being easy and great for calming them in stressful situations.
Mindful meditation has very few requirements. You need a comfortable place to sit by yourself. Close your eyes and begin to breathe. Focus on the air coming in and believe it has healing powers. Give your thought only to the air entering your lungs and then being slowly expelled.
Mindful meditation means being in the moment and not judging yourself or any added thoughts that enter your mind. When this happens, acknowledge them, and let them flow out while returning to focus on your breathing.
Linking mindfulness and your daily routine
Everyone should take stock of what their day is like. Your day is going to be different than the neighbor on the left and right of you. The neighbor on the left may have five kids, while the neighbor on the right is elderly but quite active.
What goes on in your day? Do you work outside the home and have a million things to do at work, before rushing to the grocery and then home to get the children fed and ready for homework? Once you can write out a typical day, you can then come up with a plan for making mindfulness part of your day. Here are daily tips to review and pick the right ones for you.
1. Disconnect from your cellphone. It is a distraction in many forms. Unlike the phone of old which was attached to the wall with buttons to push, your cellphone with all the apps, emails, and notifications can be an overwhelming nuisance.
You want to incorporate mindfulness and stress relief into your life, but it is difficult when you are obsessed if the coffee shop you are visiting has Wi-Fi or not. At home, put your cell phone in a different room. Before you use it, ask yourself is it necessary to do so.
Spend the time without the phone, practicing mindfulness as you enjoy that fruit snack. Let the berry you are eating, squirt the tangy juice into your mouth, and hold it for a moment savoring the sweet flavor. Try sitting in a quiet room with a candle and just be mindful of the quiet surroundings and how the flame of the candle burns with orange, yellow and blue colors.
2. It is highly recommended that you have several journals that to write in. Have a daily journal for the thoughts that come to mind. Pick up your gratitude journal and write what you are grateful for.
The mindful journal will help you to reduce stress and be clear about your life. In the mindful journal, you can write down whatever feelings come to your mind. Reflect on why you feel the way you do and what effect it has on your stress levels? Many people write from their heart into a mindful journal and use it as a brain dump to get all the thoughts out of their head and onto paper.
Another process is writing down what you regularly think about. Is there a series of thoughts that always run through your head when you are working on big projects or talking to a significant other? When you write these down and come back to them later, you can gain clarity on why you feel the way you do.
This will help you to mindfully solve any problems by not attaching a big weight to them. Instead, look at them, ponder how significant they are and whether you need to find a way to address them or just let them float away as a neutral feeling.
3. Traveling to work often brings stress. There may be a long commute or delayed trains, subways, or buses. Take stock of how you feel during your commute as it may be something you have to do for a significant number of years. Do you become agitated at other passengers, noise, or cars cutting in and out of lanes? This is the time to be mindful and after doing a few calming breaths, ask yourself why you feel this way. Don’t allow emotion to enter into it. Instead, move outside yourself as if you have a twin in the seat next to you. You can hear them saying, “Yes but how does it make you feel? Does it serve you in any way to feel like that? How can you let it go?”
This is something you can practice on every workday, and you will start to notice that you no longer dread the alarm clock signaling that you must get up and head out on a commute.
My final thoughts
I happen to believe that the ability to get a better read on your thoughts and emotions in a nonjudgmental way is liberating. Regardless of why you decide to try a mindfulness practice, you will find plenty of benefits to make the effort worthwhile.
For more information on Mindfulness check out the links below.
6 Mindful Exercises You Can Try Today
Mindfulness Relationship Exercises
I hope you enjoyed this post and will share it with someone you love.