By engaging in simple mindfulness exercises you can be calmer and happier on a daily basis. Most of us spend a lot of our time either thinking about the past, or the future. Mindfulness exercises support a way of living that enables us to focus on the present without judgement and there are many benefits to this. Mindfulness helps us to feel calmer, happier, be more intuitive, improves health and helps us manage pain.
Most of these mindfulness exercises are simple and can be acted upon at any time, but they are particularly beneficial when you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed or feeling stressed.
- Take a few minutes, just 2 or 3, and focus on your breathing. Breathe in to the count of four. Breathe out to the count of four. Pause to the count of four. That’s it. Try it, it’s incredibly calming.
- When walking, either for exercise or to get to a destination, focus your attention on the act. Feel your foot touching the ground, then notice your other foot lifting. Feel the sun, wind, rain on your skin. Take notice of how your body feels. This simple exercise is about focusing on this moment not your destination.
- Focus on gratitude. Look around you and for 2 minutes, which can feel like a long time, take note of all the things you are grateful for such as the seat you are sitting in, the computer you work on, the phone which makes life easier. There are so many things in our daily lives we take for granted but just a few minutes of focusing on gratitude every day increases dopamine, a feel good hormone.
- When we meet someone new for the first time we instantly form an impression which can turn into a judgement. Put all judgements aside and focus all of your attention on the other person. A really simple mindfulness exercise is to listen to their name and repeat it back in your conversation. Listen to what they have to say rather than focusing on what you will say next. Stay present.
- Take 5 minutes to be silent every day. Silence enables you to recharge. It provides you with an opportunity to be aware of where your mind is. When we are comfortable with silence we can recognise our intuition guiding us, our mind becomes clearer, we become more accustomed to pausing which builds resilience.
- Do one thing at a time. Most of us have become accustomed to multi-tasking we don’t even notice we are doing it. Focus on doing one thing at a time, it will feel strange at first but research has shown that by doing this we actually have more time.
- A really beneficial mindfulness exercise is to eat onsciously. Ideally you could establish some habits around eating like always sitting down, not eating on the run, doing nothing else while you are eating. This enables you to become aware of how often you shove your feelings down with emotional eating.
- Whenever you feel upset, pause and feel the emotion. Most of us go into our stories when we are upset without even realising it. If you just focus on the emotions you are experiencing in the moment, without judgement, you will find that the emotion quickly passes. It really works.
- Talk mindfully. Every time we open our mouths to speak we need to be conscious of the ideal person we would like to be, then by being present more often you will find you are less inclined to gossip, blame or compain, which are habits that it many of us engage in without realising it.
- When we think about our goals too much we often focus on what is missing in our lives. Schedule time to visualise, study, plan or take action is some way towards your goals then detach and live in the moment. You will find you will not only attain your goals so much faster, it will be easier too.
- When communicating focus on really listening to what the other person has to say. Mindful listening is a form of deep listening that helps you understand what the other person is saying, and enables the person who is talking to feel heard. It can be very healing in relationships.
- Whenever you feeled stressed take just two or three minutes to close your eyes and do a mini-meditation. Mini-meditations can be done anywhere, in a waiting room, a bathroom, at your desk, or even on public transport. They are restorative breaks and no-one ever needs to know what you are doing.
These are just a few mindfulness exercises that can make your life easier. You can find more ideas in our blogs.
