Here are some tips on how to weave mindfulness into your workday and life: As you open your eyes in the morning, instead of jolting out of bed, try and see if you can make room for a STOP practice (Stop, Take a breath, Observice -thoughts, feelings, emotions -, Proceed) This tends to start the day off differently with great calm and present moment awareness setting the stage for you to be more calm and steady during challenging moments through the day. As you get in the shower, notice if your mind is already at work thinking, planning, and rehearsing all the things that may happen that day. When you become aware of this, gently bring your mind back to the question, what is my purpose right now, what is most important. The answer is getting clean in the shower or waking up. So bring your attention back to your senses, smelling the soap, feeling the sensation of the water on your body, listening to the sound of it in the shower. Becoming more present. If you have a family or partner, consider taking a morning to practice mindful listening and connecting with them before rushing out. As you leave the house, slightly slow down as you walk to the car, check in with your body and notice any tension. Try and soften it. As you drive, once in a while, try driving a little slower and let red lights be reminders to just notice your breathing. As you walk to the office, walk differently today. Breathe in with every three steps, and breathe out with every three steps. Notice the sensation of walking; it took you over a year to learn how to walk in the first place. If you sit at a desk, practice STOP before checking the computer for emails or updates. When doing tasks at work, block out time to focus on a group of similar tasks. For example, block out time just for planning and do not attend to any other tasks during that time. If you can, turn off your email during this period. If possible, maybe once a week, eat by yourself in silence, eat slightly slower and really tune into the sense of taste while eating. Sprinkle STOP or breathing space practices throughout the day, checking in to see if you are in a proactive, reactive, distracted or waste zone. Then choose what is the most important thing to be doing right now. When walking back to the car from work, practice the same way you walked to your car. Remember, it doesn’t pay to rush home to relax, drive slightly slower and experiment with new radio stations, maybe reflect on what you actually did that day. What was positive, what was stuff you would like to do better? You can also choose to plan how you would like to be when you get home. When getting home, if you have a family, practice STOP before entering the house, notice if your body is tense, and if so, try to soften those muscles by breathing in and out of them, with awareness, and just letting them be. It’s difficult to remember to integrate mindfulness into daily living so, you can choose to get little daily tweets to pop you into a mindful space at twitter/Mindful_Living. As always, please share your thoughts, stories, and questions below. Your interaction provides a living wisdom for us all to benefit from. Source: Psychcentral!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 05:15:01 +0000