2. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is our second habit for cultivating joy that builds on gratitude. Gratitude practices are great for taking you out of negative cycles in your head and grounding you in the beauties of the current moment. Grounding fully into the present moment is precisely what mindfulness does.
What is Mindfulness?
“Mindfulness” has become a buzzword in the last decade or so, and it’s often shrouded in a bit of mystery or sometimes conflated with meditation (which is a type of mindfulness). When practiced in it’s simplest forms, it’s actually super simple and easy to do throughout your day.
Here’s the definition of mindfulness:
mind·ful·ness
/ˈmīn(d)f(ə)lnəs/
noun
the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
"their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition"
a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
Simply put, any moment you are completely in the here in now, tapped into your 5 senses to take in the world around you, without worrying or thinking about the past or future, you are practicing mindfulness.
Benefits of Mindfulness:
It’s deeply calming to the mind and nervous system. Most of the time we are absorbed in our thoughts we are either obsessing about the past or worrying about the future. Unless we are thinking about happy memories or anticipating something positive, both of those things tend to be anxiety producing (and a waste of time because we cannot control past or future events).
If you easily get flustered, anxious, overwhelmed, or even panicky, mindfulness is a great way to “ground” yourself and return to a stay of calm. Many therapists use “grounding” techniques to help people struggling with anxiety, numbing or depersonalization symptoms. Just like mindfulness, “Grounding”, is simply bringing your awareness into the concrete, here & now. Some common techniques are smelling a strong, pleasant smell (orange or lavender essential oil, coffee, etc) or touching a smooth rock or a rough object.
How to achieve a state of mindfulness:
You really want to bring your awareness out of your head, your thoughts, worries, judgements, opinions, and simply into the current experience of your body. Focus your full attention on something you are doing or observing right now. Consciously make note of what you are experiencing in terms of sights, smells, feelings, tastes, and sounds. Obviously ALL five senses may not be involved (there are many things we’d rather not taste), but the more senses you tune into, the more visceral the experience is, and the more present and ALIVE you will feel.
Why this works:
Mindfulness brings you into your body, and your lived experience as it is right now. We live so much of our lives on autopilot that we almost sleepwalk our way through life.
Little ways to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine:
Turn off TV while eating and focus on the flavors of each bite. Notice the smell of the food, the colors, the texture, whether there are multiple bursts of flavors as you chew.
Mentally scan your body head to toe, noticing things like the sensations where your clothes are touching your skin, the temperature of the air on your skin, the points of pressure where you’re feet are pressed into the earth, or legs are pressed into your seat, etc.
While in the car (without taking your attention off driving), notice the individual leaves on the trees, or look for small items of beauty, such as flowers, notice the color of the sky.
While walking outside, notice the feeling of the wind on your face, notice the smells of nature, such as that of fall leaves or fresh cut grass. Take notice of specific visual details of the view around you.
Meditation:
All meditation is, is sitting in silence, uninterrupted, tuning in with you body and breath, and just noticing any thoughts or sensations that arise. If you’re a very busy person, expect your brain to also be very busy when you finally settle down into silence. This is normal!
Tips:
Start small- 1 min. Seriously. When you first begin meditating, 1 min may feel long! Any amount of silence, even just 1 min, may change the tone of your day.
If sitting still is not you M.O., try walking meditation (where you very slowly & consciously pick up your foot slowly, feel it make contact with the groun, etc).
You can also try mindful or meditative eating (one of my favorites) where you turn off all distractions, really look at your food, observing the colors and textures you can see, smell your food, notice the consistency as you scoop it with a spoon or stab it with a fork, and notice each burst of flavor as it touches your tongue and as you chew, noticing the visceral texture of the food in your mouth.
Finally, if all that sounds a bit too intense (or too slow), you can also try walking in nature, noticing the leaves, the sun, the breeze, the smell of the grass, etc. If all this sounds slow, it’s because it is. The pace of our society and now our individual lives can be frenetic. We rush around and are so busy all the time, we can feel like we are barely in control of our lives or our time. The truth is, we really are in charge of our own schedules- you may have a lot of obligations pulling you to be busy, but ultimately you do choose to do those things. Mindfulness, helps us counterbalance the hectic energy by giving ourselves permission and time to slow down and check in with ourselves and our environment.
Even as a yoga teacher, I often don’t realize which parts of my body are tight or painful until I come to sit on my yoga mat and begin to move slowly.
Insert here: Guided Meditation about walking on a beach.
Just a note:
Typically, being on our smartphones or other devices, especially out of boredom or to pass the time, takes us out of a place of mindfulness. We are no longer in the “here and now” but are transported to other times, other realities other than our own. It also sets us up for comparison or anxiety. Consuming media and information rapidly the way we do while scrolling on social media adds lots more new thoughts to our already busy, swirling brains.