Have you ever imagined sometimes we can complete the task earlier while sometimes we take the whole day to complete the job and feel tired? One of the reason might be lack of mindfulness. The term mindfulness is being in the present time with all our senses without any distraction. You might ask the question of why this art was not taught in school or university.
Our mind operates by a collection of thoughts that can come from any sense organ. This happens whenever a trigger is generated to create a response to any event in an external environment. For example, during a fight scene or a frightening situation, our heartbeat rises. Similar things happen when we are performing a stage program for the first time.
During these emergencies, our body secretes a hormone known as adrenaline which prepares to fight against the emergency and overcome the problem. This hormone is very powerful and must be generated in the right proportion; otherwise, there could be an adverse effect. Mindfulness is a state of mind which allows your body to keep the hormones in a balanced and controlled state. The technique that helps us to increase this ability is called mindful meditation. It involves the closing all distractions from the body and listening to every breath that we inhale and exhale.
How to meditate and increase our mindfulness?
Few things should be done before using mediation techniques to improve mindfulness.
- Meditate in the silent room. People often go for yoga in the open area to fetch fresh air. The sound of horns of vehicles, barking dogs or chirping of birds can prevent you from doing soulful yoga.
- Don’t be alone while meditating. Meditation is an exercise that should not be done alone. The reason is that sometimes we need someone to awake from our deep slumber after meditation.
- Wear white and thin clothes as it helps us to reach the proximity of meditation faster. Wearing dark colour or heavy clothes creates a distraction and hence prevents us from reaching the desired output.
- Relax your body in the right posture to meditate. Meditation is helpful only if the attitudes of the body are in a good position. Hence we must relax our body before meditating. In case we have travelled a long distance or have come after running then we should relax and wait for breath to come to average speed.
Learn how to practise mindful meditation
There are many ways of achieving mindfulness using meditation. It can be attained by yoga or meditation. The same thing can be done by cloud gazing as well. The latter is useful when you do not have any silent space; this simple task can disconnect you from external environment easily. Here’s how to learn how to practise mindful meditation
- Focus on the breathing. Respiration is the most important process that happens in every living organism. This is a biochemical reaction which should be done in a controlled way. Respiring too much will burn all food stored in our body and convert it into energy. This vast energy thus generated must also be channelised for the proper functioning of the body.
- Positive thinking. We cannot control our thoughts. They can come from any direction as soon as our senses perceive them. Wishful thinking is always positive; hence we should increase the numbers of wishful thinking. Positive thoughts bring positivity while negative thoughts bring negative energies like anger, fear and sadness.
- Have a balanced diet. Yoga cannot be done empty stomach. One must quench the physical needs for food, and for this, we should take a balanced diet which consists of all nutrients which can increase our brain cells.
- Spend some time with nature. Gardening in the house is the best way to spend some time with nature. You could plant new baby plants and nurture it with fertilisers and water every day. This caring habit can increase your mindfulness and make you are aware of Mother Nature in a better way.
- Have an open mind. The person who has an open mind can understand the situation he or she is in a better way. Open-mindedness can be achieved by living ourselves in the present and not brooding upon our previous thoughts. Sometimes we should have a let it go attitude to avoid the negative thoughts.
- Be aware of your mental stress. List out all things that make your mind in stress. It could be anything like extreme work pressure, family members not behaving correctly etc.
- Keep yourself physically fit. A person cannot have the real benefit of mindfulness if he is not physically fit. It does not mean that a lame or disabled person cannot have mindfulness he or she can have incredible powers if they are awakened with their real potential.
- Keeping a pet. A pet animal can help you to gain the caring habit which is considered to be the utmost importance in mindfulness. It generates emotions which makes us feel that we are in the present time.
Mindfulness can help us in many ways
- In achieving our career goals. Students who are looking for a good career can achieve their goals if they have a clear perspective of what they want to become. Mindfulness can help you know your true potential and motivate you to reach the goal.
- In achieving business targets. Any businessmen who work without a strategy cannot win or have success in his lifetime. To make the business target, one must have a clear conscience about what things shall be done to achieve his business goals. This can be done if they are in a state of mindfulness.
- In making the final decision. Sometimes, we find it challenging to choose the correct path when we have multiple options available before us. In such circumstances, we need to relax and be in a state of mindfulness so that we can make a proper decision even in a tough situation
- Gain confidence. Confidence is an attribute in human, which makes him feel that person is fully aware of the surroundings. A confident person behaves positively and attractively while an under-confident person behaves in fearful ways. If we want to increase confidence among us, then we should meditate with mindfulness state of mind.
- Reduces worry. Anxiety is the root cause of problems. The main causes of stress in human are anxiety or worry. We need to minimise these using effective mindfulness techniques.
Final thoughts
we must say that if we want to stay calm in an adverse situation and overcome our problems in difficult times, we must know the art of mindfulness. This alone can help in awakening the senses, reducing the distractions and making our thought process more productive and useful. We can either Yoga or meditate with a yoga instructor. Or else we can gaze clouds or use the technique of one moment relaxation.
We hope that the above information that we provided on mindfulness is beneficial to you. In case you have any further inquiry or want to ask me personally about the technique of mindfulness, then you can reach me anytime.
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Image credit: Freepik
Peter Wallace has been an advocate for mental health awareness for years. He holds a master’s degree in counselling from the University of Edinburgh.
