How to Practice Mindfulness Daily

How to Practice Mindfulness Daily

Mindfulness is the ability to be present and “in the moment” by training your brain to be more aware of what is happening both within your body and externally in your environment. Practicing mindfulness can help you reduce stress levels as well as improve focus and your mood. By practicing mindfulness, you can also train yourself to become more compassionate and thoughtful in your actions, which will be greatly appreciated by everyone who you interact with! Try these Purlife tips to practice mindfulness daily!

To Practice Mindfulness Daily Try:

Mindful Morning

Having a mindful day starts with having a mindful morning. Before you pick up the phone or newspaper, practice sitting there and reflecting on where you are, how you feel, and what your intentions are for the rest of the day. Take a minute, or five, to just sit there calmly and gather yourself before you take off for work.

Mindful Driving

Your commute to and from work is the perfect time to practice mindfulness. Since you have a commute twice a day, this can be a great time to develop a good habit of being in the moment.

Think about how many distracting behaviors you engage in on a daily basis while driving because you are either trying to kill time or overcompensate for the time that you don’t have because you are running late. You may eat, check your email, scroll Twitter, or even just be somewhere else mentally. All of these behaviors are distracting, and they don’t necessarily help you accomplish anything.

If you are new to intentionally practicing mindfulness, you may find it easier to have a quiet drive where you focus on what you see, what you hear, and how you feel. Not only is this safe driving, but this is also a great way to train yourself to really be present.

Mindful Eating

When you engage in mindful eating habits, not only are you practicing healthy habits, you focus more on why and what you are eating and how you feel while you are eating. This is great for preventing you from mindlessly eating food too quickly, which makes it easy to overeat.

To practice eating mindfully, you should slow down and focus on the internal and external reasons for eating. Are you eating because you’re hungry or because you’re conditioned to eat as a response to a certain feeling like sadness or boredom?

Slowing down also allows you to enjoy your food more by allowing you to focus on the color, the texture, and the taste.

If This… Then That…

Practice creating habits that remind you to be mindful. A good way to practice mindfulness is to have If/Then scenarios that make you be mindful. A good example of this is, “If my phone rings, then I breathe.” This means that before picking up your phone and answering, you take a few deep breaths so that you can transition from one task to the next. There is no limit to the number of great “If… Then…” examples that you can use that can include everything from crossing specific doorways (like the office door or your front door) to tying your shoes.