I shared with you briefly about my decisions in my post on serendipity. I find that the older I get the more I value silence. The more I am drawn to mindfulness. And mindfulness is not just meditation. It’s a lot more.Mindfulness is a powerful tool to possess to succeed in life and achieve inner peace. It may sound like a complicated method, but it’s actually not. These are 5 simple steps to become mindful and achieve a centred life.
#1 Be self-aware
Mindfulness is nothing but being in the present. Be aware of where you are, what you’re doing and what is happening around you. Be aware of the simple chores or actions you do. When you eat, don’t eat in a hurry. When you talk to someone is focused on the conversation and on the person. Be aware of what your body needs.
#2 Meditate
Before going about your daily chores, spend a few minutes of your time in relaxation. Play a calming music. Sit comfortably and just bask in the moment. Close your eyes. Take deep breaths. Feel the relaxation from the top of your head flowing through your toes.
#3 Let go
Let go of bad emotions. Let go of unnecessary worries. Let go of bad memories. Let go of any distractions so you can focus in the here and now.
#4 Short but sweet
Being focused for a short period of time repeatedly throughout the day could be just a simple step to mindfulness but it’s more effective than doing it for a long time. Our brains could only take too much. Start with only a few minutes a day and eventually work on doing it for a longer a time.
#5 Be patient
You will not get into the state of mindfulness right away. It takes a lot of practice especially if you’re used to entertaining distractions like gadgets and your other daily habits. Don’t be harsh on yourself when you don’t get to focus right away. Be patient. You’ll get there.
A Time to Be Silent
There must be a time when we cease speaking
to be fully present with ourselves.
There must be a time when we exclude clamor
by listening to nothing whatsoever.
There must be a time when we forgo our plans
as if we had no plans at all.
There must be a time when we abandon conceits
and tap into a deeper wisdom.
There must be a time when we stop striving
and find the peace within.
Amen.
– David O. Rankin
Do you make time to be silent?
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Loved this, Corinne! I’ve been following these steps for a while now and find that after months of struggling to keep to a regime in order to be mindful, I’m finally tuned into these. I always tell people how beneficial it is if we restore the inner calm before braving the storm outside.
These are simple yet more powerful steps for mindfulness. I too love practicing mindfulness now when I am getting older. It has a tremendous impact over me. Thanks for sharing this.
Very simple yet powerful steps. Being mindful is important as it helps keep our focus and do things much better.
The ending lines from ‘A time to be silent’ are beautiful. How much peaceful it is to stop striving and struggling. I wonder if we
would have been taught mindfulness when we were children, so many years would not have gone futile and full of anxiety.
What resonated with me the most was the line from the poem.
“…When we stop striving”
I strive to be a good mother, good wife, good friend, good parent and what not. In the process, I am spreading my self too thin and over stretching myself. So here comes the “Mindfulness”. The balance, that I must achieve and give some importance to me, my real avatar!
Thanks Corinne for the pearls of wisdom. this post sure will linger in my thoughts for long!
I’ve been reading about mindfulness recently and found how tough it is to just sit there and be aware of where we are and what we’re doing. I’ve been trying to practice it myself. I was never a fan of being in a silent atmosphere, but these days I find that I work better in silence. I think I’m slowly getting there.