Rebirth your Mindfulness Daily
Rebirth your Mindfulness Daily
Since just before COVID, I have found it extremely useful to find a better way to control my emotions, thus my thoughts. Many times, our thoughts will run away with us and we are left feeling overwhelmed, disoriented or just plain confused. It’s like having five different TV shows playing inside your head all at the same time and trying to watch them all. It’s hard to get things accomplished, we lose focus and then we end up frustrated or subject to the dominant emotion at that moment. I realized that while our minds often take the lead to guiding us, sometimes we have to find a way to take back control and to recenter.
You probably have noticed my outgoing signature from my posts (Stay Mindful). That saying means a lot to me because it holds a significant value in every moment of my daily walks through life. It serves as a reminder to constantly work at steadying my thoughts and to work harder to level my imaginings. To stay mindful is an exercise that encourages practitioners to pay full attention to the present moment. This includes anything you do, anything you think, and anything you feel. As important as it is to stay at attention, remember our minds often work on autopilot. Autopilot minds do things automatically without sparking in any conscious thoughts, moving procedurally through rote memorization and habit. Using these types of subconscious actions lead to unconscious thoughts and judgments. We lose the true brilliance of a moment because our minds have already taken the beautiful newness out of it.
Daily Practice
As one of many forms of meditational practices, mindfulness has established a place as a modern tool for not only supporting physical wellness, emotional continuity, and mental stability, it improves it. I’m certain much of its popularity comes from its convenience. You don’t have to shape or contort your body into an unfamiliar, albeit uncomfortable, position, nor do you have to isolate from others on personal growth retreats. It’s something you incorporate (rebirth) into your everyday life. With that in mind, consider the following practices to embed them into your ordinary life moments.
Mindful Eating – Try to pay attention to the taste and the smell of your food. Try not to rush. Our minds may tell us to eat as quickly as possible before the food gets cold, before your lunch break is over, or before someone asks you for some. Remember, focus on taste, sound, smell, and texture. It will provide a whole different eating and dining experience.
Mindful Walking – Take breaks often, but don’t do it in your usual manner. Go for a walk. Get up out of your seat, take some physical action. Let your body stretch and then commence taking a casual stroll for 10-15 minutes. Focus on breathing and embracing the environment around you. Remember, the goal is not only in the action of the body (it’s generally good health to take a walk); the goal is in the inaction or release from the habitual thoughts of life (Break Free!).
Mindful Listening – Focus intently on the words of others. Listen to learn and not to respond. If you are listening to create a response, your mind is actively disengaging you from active listening because it is busy trying to retort.
-Take this one step further. Try this with your favorite music. For me oftentimes, it’s like hearing an entirely different song.
Mindful Breathing – I think a lot attention is given to food and water as our most important energy source. I want to add this to the list – breathing air. Many aspects of meditation focus on the breath as a grounding technique in practice. This holds true in mindful breathing as well. The rhythm of the breath and the focus on it systematically slows down the activity and constant jumping of conscious thoughts. Further, that slow down in pace is exactly what you need to remain in place, to remain in the moment.
Mindful Transitions – I mentioned in previous post about multitasking. It’s a great skill to possess, but a disadvantage to a steady mind. As you finish one task and begin working towards another, take a second to relax and to take a break. Your focus and intention are constantly due for a reset, so place importance and reflection on those few moments as you move from one activity to another.
Benefits of Mindfulness
The untold benefits of mindfulness are far-reaching and very impactful on both physical and mental levels. If you are looking for an easy to practice daily activity that helps calm the mind and lowers those stress hormones, mindfulness is essential. By lowering primary and secondary levels of depression and anxiety, studies show that practicing mindfulness is instrumental to gaining situational awareness and mental balance.
Balance in the mind also provides a noticeable improvement in focus and productivity. Quieting the mind delivers increased attention span and concentration on tasks. Imagine how beneficial this would be to handling complex tasks or demanding situations.
Finally, overall well-being and general comfort (especially in today’s world). The consensus shows that mindfulness practices that are carried out regularly demonstrate significant improvements in overall resilience, help create calming environments when surrounded by external stressors, and inspire individuals to seek positive engagements with others.
Stay mindful…
Rebirth
Test your skills:
Try a one-minute mindfulness break:
Sit comfortably and take a slow, deep breath.
Notice the air entering and leaving your body.
Observe any thoughts or feelings without trying to change them.
Return your attention gently to your breath.
Even a minute or two each day can make a difference.
