Mindful living really!

 I just brushed it off and started cutting vegetables for my favourite salad.

A week later this advertisement popped up again, where this lady was talking about mindful living on the television. This is when  I noticed something strange and I was startled by this new realisation.

I was craving to eat my favourite salad and now when I had time I was not paying attention to the whole process but was more concerned about the movie i was watching .

I wasn’t present at the moment and was trying to multitask , even when I was in the kitchen I remember thinking of what I would cook for dinner .

That’s when I paused and paid attention to what I was upto and what the advertisement was talking about. 

Mindful living is nothing fancy but something that we have over the years forgotten, it’s all about being in the moment and i can’t stress on how important it is to be mindful all the time.

Ever Since I have kept a check on myself, I have noticed huge changes within me . One change that tops the list is being stress free.

Yes you heard it right being stress free.

What is mindful living?

Mindful living is all about being aware and being in the present moment. It means being in the moment and being aware of your thoughts, your actions, your words and your feelings. It is about paying attention to the aspects of life in the present rather than thinking of the future or the past. 

When one starts practising mindfulness on a daily basis it becomes a natural process in one’s lifestyle and hence the person starts living mindfully. Mindfulness means maintaining awareness of our feelings, body sensations, our surroundings and our thoughts every moment. 

Mindful living doesn’t mean controlling the mind as many people confuse it, it means accepting everything and paying attention to it.

While you practice being mindful you pay attention to your thoughts and feelings and do not judge them or derive any conclusions, this way the other aspects start flowing in you start paying attention to the surroundings, the movement, the stillness and the breath.

All this is interlinked to each other, hence we start being in the present moment rather than focusing on the past or the future.

Now you must be wondering all this knowledge when on one hand i had mentioned it is nothing fancy, but all these terms and definitions are mind boggling.

Hold on don’t panic, mindful living is really very simple, it’s just we need to train ourselves and regain our lost powers.

How to practice mindful living?

To embrace mindful living one of the most important things you need to incorporate is mindfulness in your routine.

Mindfulness can help you with your peace of mind, your health, your profession, your relationships above all in every aspect of your life.

I will not fail to mention it once again: mindful living is really simple, you just need to stick to the basics.

Tips That can help you in mindful living

Mindful eating

Now eating is something we all do all the time and needless to say we have often done it mindlessly and tried to  multitask while eating.

As this is one activity we cannot live without, let’s start the practice of mindful living with eating mindfully.

So today when you sit down to eat just keep your phone aside and look at the food on your plate just notice it, it won’t take much time . Observe the colour and the texture. Next when you eat, pay attention to every bite and chew slowly (i know it sounds boring but do it intentionally at least for the first 10-15 bites).

Pay attention to your body’s signals it will indicate when it’s full , this was one of my first observations and thus it helped me not to over eat.

When you pay attention to the food on your plate and are intentional about what is on your plate you will notice you start eating better and the food will start nourishing you in better ways.

Doing your activities mindfully

There are times when we have struggled to remember if I have turned off the geyser or have I taken my daily supplements. At Least for me it has happened many times. These Are the signs that there is a lot going on in our minds we are not mindful of our activities.

It is very easy to be mindful and achieve mindful living through our daily activities. All we need to do is pay complete attention and be aware of the task in hand .

For example 

When you are cooking just notice the food at hand, look at what you are chopping and feel the texture, the sound when you chop , look at how the food colour changes when it’s on the pan, how the texture changes, observe the movement of your hands observe the patterns.

Pay attention to tiny details like the grain texture, the colour, the sound and your patterns also.While cooking just turn off all the distractions and don’t try to multitask. 

There are many activities that we do on a regular basis. We just need to be more mindful about our ways .

You will notice that your mind starts to wander away just pause and bring it back to the present moment.

Being mindful in your interactions 

Yes, you heard it right, this is something which is really important to strengthen our bond and our relations .

Have you ever noticed you feel annoyed, when you are saying something and the other person instead of looking at you just looks at his phone or does some other activity. The other person is not being completely present and listening to you. 

Thus it is really important to be mindful while interacting with anyone ,it can be your children, your partner, your colleague or any person. When you are interacting make sure you are not mindlessly scrolling through your phone and giving them undivided attention. Pay attention to every word they are saying. Don’t be judgemental and try to be in the present moment.

Along this process you can be mindful by paying attention to how you listen and how you react and also how they respond.This will help you to incorporate mindful living in your ways of interacting.

Be mindful of your content

A very important aspect of mindful living is being conscious and mindful of the content that one consumes. With so much going on around us and the ease to access it we fail to realise the importance of keeping a check on what we are consuming.

Unknowingly we are incorporating some things into our subconscious minds from the news we watch or the drama series we watch. These later on seep into our daily habits and our behavioural patterns.

It is really important to start consuming positive content, especially the last piece of content.

To incorporate mindful living, shift from negative content to positive content like reading books that are inspirational, listening to podcasts talking about compassion and other healthy topics.

It’s also important to be mindful about how much screen time you have on a daily basis.

Mindful breathing

If you have shifted your focus toward mindful living then you should definitely incorporate mindful breathing.

Mindful breathing means paying attention to your breath. Our breath is the most important aspect of our being which we have for sure taken for granted. 

Once you start paying attention to your breath it will transform your whole way of living.

Just start paying attention to your breath , take out at least  5minutes a day to be conscious about your breath and pay attention to the sensations .

As you do your activities throughout the day, pause for a moment and pay attention to your breath. When you are talking, pause and see the pace of your breath. Observe your breath when you are angry or when you are eating your favourite food or when you are happy. Start noticing your breath and its movement.

Mindful breathing will help you release anxiety, stress and reduce negative thinking and you will also see you can sleep better.

Parting thoughts 

Mindful living is again a journey not a destination. It takes effort and patience. All you need to do is start somewhere. Pike up any one thing you are noticing and start doing it with full awareness. Whenever you see your mind starts wondering, pause and bring the attention back to the activity. 

Slowly you will start noticing you are getting better and you do not have to make extra efforts. You will find yourself stressing less, worrying less, paying more attention and your overall life getting better.

Before i conclude lets do a small activity which will help us toward mindful living

The first thing in the morning is to brush our teeth, so tomorrow morning when you brush your teeth practice mindfulness. Notice the brush and the bristles, pay attention to how you are feeling in the moment, are you happy or grumpy that you have to get up early. Next pay attention to your hand movements when you are brushing the expressions you make.

Try this and keep doing this activity till you start being aware of it and stop doing it mindlessly.

Life is a journey where we all can strive to be better than our older versions and not fall into the loop of our mindless habits.