Mindful living is a practice we should all adopt this year in order to destress. So many of us are walking around on auto-pilot just moving through the day. Mindfulness will ground us and bring us back to the present moment.
This post is all about Mindful Living
Sometimes personal development can sound complicated (or a little woo-woo). Don’t let this scare you off! It’s about finding the pieces that resonate with you so that you can feel like your best self. The number one intention behind personal growth and development (and this blog!) is for you to feel good, regardless of your circumstance. Mindful living can be one of those tools you reach for to feel good.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the ability to be in the present moment without judgment or analysis. It’s a form of meditation or practice that originates from Hindu and Buddhist practices. When you’re practicing mindfulness you become hyper-aware of your surroundings. You can feel yourself as being in the present, and fully experience what the present has to offer.
Benefits of Mindful Living
Mindful living has a number of benefits. The main and more obvious ones are minimizing stress and anxiety. Though mindful living has another large benefit. It allows you to experience your life rather than live on autopilot. When you take the time to slow down, breathe, and take in your surroundings, you are grounded in the present. You are living in the now, you are fully experiencing life. Mindfulness offers us a way to slow down time.
Mindful Living
1. Take a break from social media/screens
Nothing takes us away from the present moment like social media and constant screen use. The internet has so many positives (like being able to write this blog!) but it’s also a mental escape. We can scroll on our phones for hours without truly being present and aware. It can be a great mindless activity when you want to zone out but if you want to be mindFUL take a break from the screen.
2. Cook meals with intention
For most us, we’re cooking after a long day of working and/or parenting. By the time dinner time arrives, we’re hangry and we just want to make something quick. It goes against instinct, but slow down! Take in the cooking process, look at all your colorful ingredients, and take in the smells. Cooking is one of the only times of the day when we can focus on a single task at hand. It’s the perfect opportunity to practice mindful living.
3. Meditate
The core practice of mindfulness is meditation. This meditation is actually done best with your eyes open. Practicing mindfulness is about taking in your surrounding, and being aware of your scenes. Try taking in a deep breath and take in what you can hear, see, smell, and feel. Be present in the moment but don’t make any judgments or analyses. You want to simply just exist.
4. Approach life with curiosity
The beauty of mindfulness is that you’re learning to be present in the moment without judgment. Judgment means you’re not creating an opinion about what’s happening around you, you’re simply open, curious, and aware. Slow down and get curious about life, look out your window, and ask yourself what’s one new thing you can take in that you haven’t noticed before? If you’re sitting in a park staring at the trees with curiosity, look at the patterns of the bark, and take in the smells. Being more curious about what’s around you grounds you in the present moment, this is the purpose of mindful living.
5. Take a breath between activities
Breathwork is a powerful way to practice mindful living. Our breath is the most important thing we have, it gives us life, and it’s one of the only things we actually need. Tuning into your breath slows down your heart rate and brings you back into the present. Close your eyes, place your hand over your heart, and take slow deep breaths in and out. Feel the air enter your lungs, take in how your chest rises and falls, and breathe.
Hopefully, you’ve been sold on mindful living! Slow down, stay grounded, and be present without judgment.
This post was all about Mindful Living
Thank you so much for reading this blog post by Sipping on Gratitude a personal growth and development blog.
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Great tips for small things we can do to practice mindful living every single day!
I’m trying to be more mindful and intentional this year. Thanks for sharing some ways to do so!