Mindfulness

Have you ever tried to work but it seems the mind keeps travelling different miles? Have tried to concentrate on something so hard that it seems like the more you concentrate, the more the mind travels? The problem is not farfetched. It simply means there is lack of Mindfulness in you. What exactly is the term “Mindfulness”?

Mindfulness is pretty a straightforward word. It has roots in Buddhism and meditation, but we don't have to be spiritual, or have any particular beliefs, to try it. Mindfulness entails basic human ability to be fully present, being aware of where we are and what we are doing. It is an awareness that comes to being by consciously paying attention to the present and not judgmentally, accessing events moment by moment. It suggests that the mind is fully attending to understand what’s happening, what you are doing and also the space you are moving through.

When our mind takes flight, it loses touch with the body, getting caught up in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or something that is bound to happen or even, fretting about the future. And all these thoughts make us very anxious.

A lot of people have misconception about Mindfulness being a religion. Because it is a tool for reconnecting with life, for embracing the inward and outflow of the world, and for coming to a greater understanding and acceptance of life’s eternal flux, it is not inherently mystical or spiritual. Although people through the ages have used meditation for spiritual purposes, it has been known to help people gain relief from anxiety, stress, depression, exhaustion and physical pain.

4 Things To Know About Mindfulness

Anyone and Everyone can do it. Mindfulness practice cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs. A lot of people believe that to be able to venture into the practice, you would have certain experience with meditation but that certainly not true. Everyone can benefit and it’s easy to learn.

It’s a way of living.  Mindfulness is more than just a practice. It brings awareness and caring into everything you do—and it cuts down needless stress. Even a little makes our lives better.

We certainly don’t need to change for it: we have seen certain solutions that require us to change to better our lives. Those solutions have proven to fail us times and times again. Mindfulness doesn’t requires us to change your lifestyle, it allows us adjust to it.

It sparks innovation. As we deal with world’s increasing uncertainty, mindfulness lead us to effective, resilient, low-cost responses to solving intransigent problems.

The truth is that no matter how far we drift away, Mindfulness is right there to snap us back to reality and where we are, what we are doing and feeling. Meditation trains our mind. Many of the time, our minds are wandering — we are thinking about the future, dwelling on the past, worrying, fantasizing or daydreaming. Meditation calls us back to the present moment, giving us the tools that are needed to be less stressed, calmer and kinder to ourselves and others.

There’s one little problem though: ‘mindlessness’ is all pervasive. The problem is that we are all naturally mindless. If we are left with ourselves for more than a few moments, we can easily lapse into mindlessness. And we are generally not aware when we lapse into such a state. So we are unaware that we are unaware. We live on autopilot.

Kate was at the end of the road, having suffered from depression and anxiety for many years. She was trapped in a black hole of despair. She wanted to desperately escape the dreadful feeling which overwhelmed her. A friend of hers recommended a book to her on Mindfulness and since then she has been able to control her emotions. She no longer has to take Sertraline or any other medication since she started exploring difficulties meditation is wonderful. She has been able to dispel negative emotions.

Fortunately, there is a simple antidote: pay full conscious attention to whatever you are doing. Paying attention is the key to becoming present, to becoming grounded in the present moment, neither living in the past nor worrying about the future, but simply living life as it was meant to be lived. And when we once again begin paying attention, we kick-start profound changes that ripple across our whole life. We begin to see the world with all of the excitement, freshness, and joy that we did as a child. Anxiety, stress, unhappiness and exhaustion simply melt away in the face of such awareness.

In many ways, the real meditation is our life.

How To Practice Mindfulness Throughout Our Workday

The workplace can be very stressful as it is our jobs pay our bills, fill up many of our waking hours and it has been known to give our lives meaning. They can also be a source of significant stress: with the tight deadlines, long hours of work and difficult conversations. Regardless of the job we find ourselves doing, either easy or outside the confines of the office, work can be anxiety-provoking.

It would be beneficial to our state of mind if we can handle the stress that comes with our work. It can be especially helpful to bring a mindful disposition to our job, which can be the source of significant stress.

Having gone through a tedious divorce, Kane had been having issues with his boss because he rarely completes his tasks on time. He takes on different tasks he knows he wouldn’t finish just to keep himself busy. He was one the most efficient employee in his boss’ disposal but after the divorce he had been finding it difficult to focus on anything. He loses focus easily and he finds his mind wandering, dwelling on the past.

One way mindfulness can help is simply by allowing us to improve our focus. When we constantly flit from one task to another, the quality of our work can suffer. By practicing mindfulness — simply coming back to the present moment over and over again — we can train ourselves to become more focused. Here’s a guide to get you started.

Anticipate Distraction

Just because it is called “workplaces” doesn’t mean they’re the best place to do our work. The simple way to practice mindfulness it to focus more effectively, communicate more compassionately and try to manage frustrations, you can avoid many of the common pitfalls that lead to dissatisfaction on the job. 

Conscious Choices

Without a formal and proper meditation practice, there are simple steps you can take to get a better chance of staying present:

Turn off pop-up notifications and push notifications: This will surely keep you sane. You will not have to worry about work when you’re having a quiet time but only when necessary.  

Answer email during dedicated periods of time, rather than constantly throughout the day as soon as it pops into our inbox. 

Finish One Task Before You Begin the Next

Of course, you have to meet up with the numerous deadlines from work that it would be so easy to start up a new task without finishing the one at hand. “You can make conscious choices about how distracted you will allow yourselves to be all day long,” says Ms. Marturano, a Meditation Expert in South California “This can help you be more productive and focused.”

For our peace of mind, it would be advisable to finish one task before picking up another so the tasks wouldn’t eventually become cumbersome and thereby causing you to be stressed out of our mind.

Pausing

Mindfulness isn’t just cultivated by long stretches spent sitting on a meditation cushion or getting in a meditative position. The simplest thing to do is to just find moments to come back to the present moment throughout the day. Short moments, many times throughout the day, can have a profound effect on our disposition.

“It’s about creating these little opportunities to have a little dose of mindfulness,” says Mr. Harris. “Rather than pulling out our phone and walking into a wall, just see what it’s like to feel our legs moving.” 

Maybe when you have to wait for a few moments either at the elevator or as our computer turns on or as something prints, rather than take out our phone to check our email or chat on social media, try a Purposeful Pause by

Taking a moment to check in with our body. Focus on how it feels like to take a breath? How it feel to stand, or sit, with the light of our body balancing there?

Whenever you find your mind wandering, try to come back to the sensations in your body.

And when you’re ready, proceed with the day. 

Leaving Work at Work

This is another good habit to integrate into you. Try to be more judicious with technology when you’re not at the office. Try not to check your email or messages incessantly when you’re at home. I know it can be really hard for a lot of people but it will be best to leave work at your workplace. This will help you be more present with friends and family and also more refreshed when you arrive at the office.

Try the R.A.I.N Approach

A simple exercise, known as R.A.I.N., can help you stay in the present moment and not get caught up clinging to the experiences of others, or our own emotions. 

R: Recognize. Acknowledge what is happening, just noting it in calm and accepting manner.

A: Accept. Allow life to be just as it is, without trying to change it right away, and without wishing it were different somehow. 

I: Investigate. See how it feels, whether it is making you upset or happy, giving you pleasure or pain, just note it. 

N: Non-Identification. Realize that the sensations you are feeling make for a fleeting experience, one that will soon pass. It isn’t who you are.

Not Being an Ass at Work

A lot people find it pleasurable to mistreat people at work. It could be a psychological issue stemming from what they have experienced at home or while growing up. For those kinds of people, Mindfulness is the best solution. Because with time and practice, mindfulness becomes self-reinforcing.

“One of the beautiful things about the practice is that you see that treating people poorly doesn’t feel good,” says Mr. Harris. “And the converse does feel good. It creates this set of incentives that leads to better behavior.”

If you fall under the categories of these, these few steps can be followed to become less aggressive and hostile at work to colleagues:

Set aside some time. You don’t need a meditation cushion or bench, or any sort of special equipment to access our mindfulness skills—but you do need to set aside some time and space.

Observe the present moment as it is. The aim of mindfulness is not quieting the mind, or attempting to achieve a state of eternal calm. The goal is simple: Aim to pay attention to the present moment, without being hostile. Of course that is easier said than done. It is difficult but not impossible.

Let our little things roll by. When you notice things that naturally set you on the edge during your practice, you can make a mental note of them, and let them pass.

Return to observing the present moment as it is. Your minds often get carried away in thought. That’s why mindfulness is the practice of returning, again and again, to the present moment.

Be kind to our wandering mind. Don’t judge yourself for whatever thoughts crop up, just practice recognizing when your mind has wandered off, and gently bring it back.

But even without a formal mindfulness program in the office, we can exhibit mindful behavior by bringing self-awareness, emotional regulation and empathy to our interactions with colleagues.

Respect and Compassion

“The reality of business is the reality of business,” says Ms. Marturano, a Meditation Expert in South California. “But you can make people feel respected and treat people with compassion.”

Among the most important aspects of mindfulness at work is simply treating people with respect and dignity. Even if you have to step on toes or give people bad news or make tough choices, strive to do so in a way that is kind and empathetic.

How To Make Mindfulness A Part Of Our Daily Life

For every human, living in the present is the most effective way to have the right peace of mind as the present moment is where the human experience is known to take place. Our experience is more in the here and now. The past is gone, and the future will always remain but that’s in the future. When we get caught up thinking about the past and the future, we are not being fully engaged in what is taking place where you actually are. In simple terms, we are not in touch with reality.

Scientists have had difficulty studying consciousness because they’ve been unable to measure it. This is why they’ve left the study of consciousness to religious thinkers and philosophers, who use different methods. In Mindfulness meditation practice, attention is given to the nature of reality which is done by observation. Instead of developing a theory and trying to prove it to the rest of the world, we learn to see reality for ourselves, and then, we teach others how to see it for themselves. This is why it's so important to develop our observation skills. With this approach, we not only begin to understand reality, but we also transform our lives in the process.

Practicing mindfulness in our daily activities can be a huge challenge, without the proper tools. Many of your activities have become a routine that we can do them without thinking. Then we begin occupying our mind with other things we think are productive. Sometimes our mind drifts off thinking about the past or the future, or we simply worry about irrelevant things. If you notice, this usually happens when you're engaged in a routine activity you consider boring or tedious. You generally want to avoid pain, and for many of us, boredom can be quite uncomfortable and tiring. So in order to avoid boredom, you engage in fantasies and daydreaming to stimulate sensual pleasure which is never productive.

Routine activities are the perfect opportunities to practice concentration and mindfulness. They help to keep one grounded in the present moment. You can take a routine activity, such as washing dishes, and turn it into a meditation session. The only difference is the object of your meditation. So while picking some routine activities, turn them into meditation session. It is a good way to bring yourself back whenever you drift away in thought. So doing regular routine at home or at work is the best way to effective practice of concentration or mindfulness. Mindfulness is all about having a moment.

Here Are 7 Easy Ways To Be Mindful In Our Everyday Life

Wake up with awareness in the morning, breathe in and plan your day. Immediately you wake in the morning, instead of calculating through your busy schedule, take the time to become aware of your surrounding and take time to plan the day. When you rush through what you have for the day, you tend to miss out the most important things.

Enjoy every mouthful of food. Apart from food being the fuel for survival for humans; it is also one of life’s great joys. When you’re busy and stressed you tend to stove it down your throats forgetting to enjoy the taste and essence of it. Why not learn to slow down and try to really taste what you’re eating. That shows being mindful in your day-to-day routine.

Give your brain a moment’s break whenever you become aware of it. It is so easy for your brain to work in spiral. The trick is to simply notice where your thoughts go whenever your minds wander and gently bring your attention back to the physical sensations.

Be grateful for everything in your life. Suzan lost her two year old to a car accident. She had been depressed for a while, despite that her husband had shown no signs of leaving. He had been patiently waiting for her to come around. Her families had also proved to be behind her.

Instead of dwelling on the past that you don’t have the power to change and worrying about the future that you know nothing about, why not be grateful of the present moment. Think about the special people in your life, the things you have been fortunate to acquire, the success you have made so far and just be grateful about that. Forget the past disappointment and stop being bitter about it. Live in the moment and enjoy the things you have.

Keep yourself calm, not crazy. The stress you get constantly from work, family members is enough to drive one crazy. Mindfulness practice will help you become aware of the space between taking cognizance of experiences and reacting to them by letting you slow down and observe the processes of your mind so you could deal with stress.

Consciously focus your concentration on each element of your task. Whatever the task of the day may be, the goal is to put your concentration on it. When you are brushing in the morning, try to be mindful of the sensation of brushing. Silly, right? But that’s the goal of Mindfulness. Live in the moment. While brushing, you could focus on the taste of the toothpaste, the feel of your feet on the floor, the movement of your hands in and out of your mouth rather than mentally rattling through the day’s to-do list. Or while taking a shower, you could focus your mind on the feeling of the warm water, the smell of your shampoo or soap, the sound of the splashing water, the warm or coolness of the water on your body. Doing this daily, you’ll discover certain calmness in you that you haven’t felt before.

At the end of each day, consciously turn yourself off. Many have trouble truly going off at the end of a busy day. Even at the end of the day, they either work their brains by recalling events that have happened in the office or complete works they couldn’t finish on bed. Bedtime is the ideal time for some mindfulness and meditation. Get comfy and focus on your breathing for a while, noticing the rising and falling sensation. Take a moment to notice how your mind and your body are feeling after your day, including any worries or tense spots. Then slowly turn your attention to each part of your body, relaxing your muscles and “switching off” from your toes up to your head until you drift off to sleep.

How To Make Mindfulness A Part Of Our Daily Life

Trying to develop greater awareness is so much more than just sitting with our eyes closed once or twice a day. Of course, Meditation is important if we want to find stability in that awareness, but we will see or feel so much more if we can follow some simple practical steps to integrating that quality of mindfulness into our everyday life.

Every single moment in the day is another opportunity to be fully aware of the present. However, there are some activities which are better suited when learning. But rather than trying to do all of them at once, perhaps consider choosing just one to begin with and try to ensure that the new habit is really strong, then afterwards, continue with the practice the next work. You can then just keep adding one more activity each day and before you know it, you’ll have markers throughout the day which will help to maintain that feeling of calm and clarity.

If you practice the following, it could help you integrate Mindfulness in your everyday life:

As soon as you are fully wake up in the morning, instead of jumping out of bed, take a moment to pause for 3 whole breaths to pass quite naturally. This will only take a few seconds, but it will keep you refreshed and set the tone for the day ahead.

When brushing your teeth, make it an exercise for mindfulness. Rather than simply thinking about things, channel your attention to the physical sensations, the smells coming from the paste, the taste etc. Over time, it can feel like a mini-meditation.

Whether you drink tea or coffee in the morning; sit down with it, if only for the first few sips. Become aware of the smell, the taste, the temperature and everything other things. Savour the moment and take note when the mind has wandered. Make this a ritual.

Stick a blank post-it note or something equivalent on the back of your front door to remind you to be mindful as you walk before leaving the house. For starters, you could begin with 30 seconds or so, but with tie and practice, it could be much longer. Remember, this will be your starting point.

Make the beginning and end of every journey another mindful moment. When you first get on, get in, sit down or whatever it is, be present for 3 breaths. Then repeat again, before you get up, get out or stand up. The natural beginning and end helps to jog the memory.

If you work behind a desk, apply the same idea. It doesn’t have to be in a very obvious way, but just using that natural change in posture to trigger your memory to be present. Every time you sit down or stand up provides a lot of opportunities in the day.

When you are at home, try experimenting with ‘opening and closing’ method. This simply means every time you open or close a door, make it a habit to become the trigger for mindfulness, of being aware and present. This method is most effective and relatively easy to do.

Every time you eat, it could also be the perfect opportunity to remember to be present. Always take a moment to pause before eating, just long enough for one whole breath, and then as you eat, use the taste, smell etc. as the focus point for your attention. It makes the food taste better and gives you a pleasurable feeling too.

Some have been known by the habit of putting a little sticker on the back of their phone. According to them, it helps to remind them to be present, when their mind is getting lost in thoughts and distractions. You could try that too.

Take a moment before going to bed to appreciate something good which has happened in the day. It may sound a bit over used, but it would be really nice as it will help to bring the mind into the present, even if you are thinking about something from the past.

How Long Should We Practice Mindfulness Each Day?

A lot of people often ask different questions on the length of meditation in order to achieve effective Mindfulness. Questions such as “How long should I spend meditating each day? Is there any benefit to meditation if you can’t manage thirty minutes? What is the maximum hour I should meditate?”

The truth is no one is idle and everyone is busy. Regardless of this, a lot of people still want to meditate. The obvious problem is there is never enough time for it. Another factor is that Meditation is also hard because we aren’t used to sitting still and just focusing on the mind. And it is so difficult to let go of your hyperactive minds, which is all meditation is about. To be candid. Meditation doesn’t exactly conjure up warm and fuzzy feelings in the beginning. For many of us, it’s like accepting a mild and archaic form of self-inflicted torment.

Again, Meditation varies with individuals. We are all so different. We come from different historical background, cultures and traditions, and we are of different personalities. So we can never know how it’s going work. We may get results right away, but it might take days, hours, or even months of regular practice. Some have been observed to notice certain psychological benefits in terms of reduced stress and greater happiness with just ten minutes of meditation every day, while some people seem to need just twenty minutes to experience such benefits.

A well-known study trained people in meditation for eight weeks. The participants, who are new to meditation, ended up meditating for an average of 23 minutes a day. At the end of eight weeks their brain activity had measurably changed, and they showed much higher activation of parts of the brain that are associated with feelings of well-being and less activation of parts of the brain associated with stress. And they are found to have an improved immune response as well. That’s after just 23 minutes a day, on average.

Just as I have said earlier, it varies from persons to person. If you can only manage 20 minutes a day, do 20 minutes. If yours is only manage 10, please go ahead and do that. If 3 minutes is all you can spare or manage, then do that because spending 3 minutes is better than not doing anything.

The most important of it is to be consistent with it. Do it every day, and have a minimum commitment for yourself of something like five minutes a day. The amount of time you’ll have will vary. You might meditate on a regular basis for twenty or forty minutes, but then have one of those days where you just don’t get a chance to sit until last thing at night, when you’re too tired you think you’re going to crash immediately your head hits the mattress. So dedicate at least five minutes to just sitting down. This will give you an avenue to maintain a sense of being committed to your practice no matter what or where you find yourself, and you’ll feel better about yourself. Just five minutes of that time can make a huge difference in your mental wellbeing.

What about maximum? For most people, availability of time for meditation is one limiting factor. During Retreats and Days of Mindfulness, it is possible to meditate for 5, or 6, or 10 hours a day. But that’s hardly feasible for us in your daily lives, but it’s worth experimenting with doing more practice and seeing what effect it has.

It all depends on the results you’re looking for when you meditate. Do you have anxiety and stress that you wish to deal with through meditation? Are you looking to find peace to what had happened to you in the past or with someone? Are you meditating for something else, say to find deeper meaning? These are all really good reasons to meditate. And practicing meditation is the best to help you achieve these results.

But it is best to understand early that all good things, the results we’re seeking to find aren’t always immediate. Meditation is an art as well as a science. Yes, if we faithfully apply our attention and follow through on our intention with commitment and discipline, we are going to get results. There is absolutely no doubt about that. But we will have to be extra patient and committed. Unfortunately, we don’t get to decide how quickly we see the results. In fact, we often don’t even get to know that we are having any results at all.

Personally, I have found out that if I meditate for more than 90 minutes over the course of a day I experience an out of the body feeling leaving me refreshed and happy.

How Meditating An Hour Or More Has Helped Out

A common saying goes that ‘all life is suffering’ but that is just far too bleak. All life can be suffering, if you allow it to be, but it certainly need not be this way. Life can be broadly happy and meaningful but that is only if we first get out of our own way and allow it to naturally unfold before our feet.

The Buddhists that started Mediation created it for awareness, knowledge and to live with a consciousness that illusions and suffering won’t be able to trap us as long as we are made aware (meditation) of what’s happening around us. By performing the act of meditation and being in meditation posture, we achieve little bit of relaxation, which is nothing but a byproduct of meditation. But in true sense the benefit of meditation is not only limited to relaxation and stress relief, but meditation has much more to offer.

Mindfulness, according to Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn (1991), is “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally” Mindfulness is perceived as a way of being rather than an activity in and of itself. Every activity can be carried out with mindful awareness. With constant and effective Meditation, it is possible to do the following:

Change your diet to build a stronger body. The body relates with the mind. If the body is not in the right shape, it could affect the way the mind functions. A client walked up to me after one mindful retreat and told me of how meditation helped her curb her diet “I became more aware of my body and how I was feeling. I was able to physically feel how my diet was holding me back and silencing my feelings. At my therapist’s advice, as well as the advice of a diet-focused friend, I started changing my diet. The first thing I dropped was coffee and caffeine. Living without caffeine can be a real challenge in your hard-driving society. Having dropped coffee, it naturally cut down on my sugar intake. Recovering from these dietary excursions means bringing my body’s voice back into my mental foreground as soon as possible”.

It will limit the long hours you dedicate to sleep. Studies have shown that the often you practiced, the more you will limit everything you tend to do. If you go to sleep around 10:30pm, wake up around 5am every day, taking an hour to meditate, and you continue this process, you will notice your body will tends to wake up early automatically because the brain is hungry for meditation practice and excited for breakfast.

Embrace the presence which can be both painful and enjoyable. The truth is that meditation practice could conjure both moment of happiness and sadness. The moments of sadness when your mind is clinging to something, images of the past, wishful thinking, avoidance, and denial or concerned about the future which are just coping strategies for handling some sort of painful reality which are not sustainable. The moment of happiness when the mind is at peace, feeling light and untethered.

Meditation helps one get in touch with their actual feelings much more consistently. A lot of people are adept at avoiding and denying difficult feelings, Meditation is the most effective way to accept those feeling in the most natural way.

Live in the only moment you have. The focus of meditation is to fuse mindfulness practice into daily life. You feel that the essence of your meditation sessions is to feel relaxed, but the impact of meditating is far beyond feeling relaxed while meditating. You treat meditations as little experiments as you tend to spend time observing your mind, noticing how you are easily distracted, how a single piece of negative thought can grow into a depressive thinking stream. You gain insights on these and apply the observations in your daily life, for instance, when a negative thought pops in, I know how to notice it without fuelling it with more negative thoughts, the result is greater control over daily thinking and emotional pattern. Therefore, the daily meditation session is crucial. It’s a reminder of not to forget mindful living.

Builds your consistency. “The more you put in, the more you get out” is the mantra of meditation. What those that fist starts the process hasn’t gotten is that meditation is faith. Their lack of faith in meditation. Faith in all the scientific endeavours validated the effectiveness of meditation. Of course, in the first week, things will just as the same. They constantly ask questions like “Oh! Why I am doing this?” “Is it really useful?” “I can’t feel anything” But unless they press on, they can never get anything out of it. Meditation practices have been known to be worth it for those that have been consistent with it. An hour a day will make the difference in your life. I had a friend who first started like that “I once dipped my toe lightly in meditation and was somewhat disappointed in the outcomes. I believe changes were there, but whether being able to notice them was another thing. I needed much more for an apparent effect. But I ruled out quit as an option, I continued, and gradually things changed as I carried on. The annoyance was replaced, bit by bit, with the fruits of meditation”

An hour a day may sound a lot to some or too less to others. It’s never about the number and there are people who have spent way more time doing this. The point is not to compare ourselves with others.