Today’s life is fast-paced, and the integration of technology with daily life creates a litany of distractions that make it hard to unplug and appreciate life. This can create challenges in your everyday life, career, and personal relationships. It also can leave a person filling devoid of meaning, because a life without purpose can feel like a giant rat race with no end.
Learning mindfulness is the key to staying present in your life so that you can be aware of and engaged in each moment of your life. The ability to remain present is often the difference between a rewarding experience and burnout. In the modern world, wellness is the new luxury good, and if you can achieve full-body wellness, you will see the results reflected in the rest of your life.
A present person can engage with those in his or her life more effectively, can appreciate the blessings that are bestowed on them, and is fully refreshed and recharged outside of the workplace so they can return to work with more vigor. The result is a happier person who can be more productive when necessary. Nearly everyone wants to be happier, but are you willing to take the steps required to get there?
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the skill required to obtain this higher level of engagement. Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present. It needs the physical, emotional, and mental aspects of your brain to be right at the moment. When you are mindful, you are not distracted by anything else in or outside of your current environment.
It’s not as easy as just focusing on the moment, because life is full of distractions. You have to develop your mindfulness skills by training your emotions and brain. There are a handful of mindfulness exercises that can help you acquire this skill and overcome the stress that is related to daily life. Here are five mindfulness exercises that can help you cultivate mindfulness in your everyday life so that the brick and mortar does not drag you down.
Unplug While Walking
With so many distractions, we often complicate even the most straightforward functions, such as walking. These days, people treat a short walk as a chance to indulge in information on their phone or communicate with others.
Instead, focus on just enjoying the experience of walking. Focus on the sensations that you feel as you walk, such as the smell of the outdoors, the temperature, wind, how objects around you appear, and the movements of your body. In other words, indulge at the moment as you become a minor object moving through the much larger world.
Reverse Your Daily Routines
There are certain things that we do the same every day. For instance, if you start your day off with a shower, your brain often completes activities such as drying off with a towel and getting dressed without much thought. During this time, you are probably stressed and running through your daily schedule and responsibilities.
Use this time to practice mindfulness instead (which will result and calm you before the significant responsibilities of the day become evident). Consciously reverse the order of how you do things to force your mind to pay attention. Wash your body in a different pattern, towel off in a different order, get dressed, starting with your pants over your shirt, etc. This forces you to pay attention to the actual moment.
Take Five Minutes to Breathe
Breathing is an unconscious act but is one of the essential functions of the body. If you feel stress and responsibility overcoming you, take a minute to refocus your attention on breathing. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think about the smells, sounds, and sensations you feel around you as you breathe. This is also one of the first steps of meditation, which is another excellent way to enhance mindfulness.
Stop and Smile
So many activities in daily life are done on auto-pilot that is easy to forget that human interaction. Make it a point during your day to stop and smile at others or just at yourself if necessary. Smiling releases a physiological response in your body that calms and soothes you. This simple act can help bring you into the moment with an immediate reward.
Break Your Habits
Everyone forms habits, but breaking them is the key to achieving mindfulness. Habits allow the brain to drift and function on auto-pilot. Breaking them is the first step to becoming more present in life. Acknowledge your habit and then slightly change the way you do something such as pour a drink, answer an email, fidgeting with your hair, etc. This slight change allows you to become aware of the urge and more present at the moment instead of drifting away.
The point of each of these mindfulness exercises is to help you break out of your daily routine and become more present. When people stop being aware of their everyday life, habits, and activities, they lose the small but cumulative experiences that enhance their lives.
It is impossible to see the beauty and magic of each moment of life when you are always in a rush to get to the next moment. Becoming mindful can help you move past pain, stress, and anxiety and achieve inner peace. If you need help developing your mindfulness skills, Amrit Ocean Resort & Residence can provide an excellent environment to recharge and enhance the wellness of your body and mind. Contact Amrit Ocean today to schedule your stay and reconnect with the beauty in your life.
