Would You Like More Mindfulness With That? Yes Please!(With Video)

Mindfulness is where it’s at.

I posted semi recently about the importance of using mindfulness meditation and how using it can help us in a number of different areas of our lives.

Among its theorized benefits are self-control, objectivity, affect tolerance, enhanced flexibility, equanimity, improved concentration and mental clarity, emotional intelligence and the ability to relate to others and one’s self with kindness, acceptance and compassion.

I, for one, need more of the last one. I know that I am very hard on myself and I know that I need to work on this. Perhaps this stems from my living with dysthymia.

Ways that I am Practicing Mindfulness

Just Be

 

I have an 18 year old son who lives with me full time. Just me and him. All the time. Do you maybe get where I am going with this? As all parents know there are times of frustration and irritability. When these moments arise, I am using mindfulness to go to my happy place and to help me stay centered and sane.

Could you do nothing for 2 minutes?

I love music. So what I am doing now is when I listen to any song I am just sitting and listening to it. I am not doing anything else. Okay, I may tap my feet or fingers to the beat. Maybe I do sing along. But it is all about the song at that point in time.

 

When doing a workout, I just do the workout. In between exercises I stretch. I breathe. I do not go off to clean the dishes or check my email. Follow me on this? I stay where I am supposed to be at that point in time. Studies do show that mindfulness meditation decrease task effort and having thoughts that are unrelated to the task at hand (Lutz et al., 2009). In other words in makes things easier to do!

We are so conditioned to do more than one thing at a time that we no longer know how to do just one thing at a time. There seems to be very little focus on the task at hand. What is so wrong with just doing one thing and doing it well? I say nothing.

We also are led to believe that we should always be doing more. There is nothing wrong with doing nothing for a few minutes a day.

In reality any task can be done mindfully. Housework, brushing your teeth, reading, while on a hike, and so on. You stay in the present moment and use it to help focus your thoughts on the positive experience that you are having.

Mindfulness is such an important tool to have and use.

 

Check out this post for a list of the benefits of mindfulness.

Want books? We got books. Check out some of the top books on Mindfulness.

 

“Live Simply.”