Life is full of activity, work never stops, and family is always present. Maybe you tried starting over with a recent life transition that is consuming all of your time. Maybe your life coach has suggested a vacation, which sounds wonderful, but is impossible for you right now.
You don’t need to get away to stop life from taking up all your time and leaving you unable to recharge. Here are some tips for how you can steal little moments of mindful activity to help you live a better life.
Create Something
Creativity helps the soul express itself. It gives you a safe space to work out your feelings and thoughts. It gives focus, keeping your mind on an enjoyable task with the intent to make something. It provides joy in a sea of mundane tasks.
Plan a moment of creative fun, picking up a favorite skill or trying out a new one. Engage your mind in the act and enjoy how your world narrows, your spirits lighten, and your thoughts slow down.
Seek Silence
Life is full of noise. From the sounds that assault your ears on your daily commute to the visual clutter of your desk, sensory input can overload your system. Technology, friends, work gossip, and other factors fill your day with near constant input.
Take a moment to turn all the noise off. Go into your room with no devices, put in some earplugs, and lie in the dark for several moments. Turn in early tonight with a book and some brain-wave music to turn off the world. Take an extra moment in the shower enjoying the water’s heat and sounds as they isolate you. Set up an hour at a deprivation tank therapy center or go to a spa and pamper yourself for just a short while.
Make Daily Tasks Meaningful
Day-to-day tasks remain present, even when you get away. You have to wash your hands, eat, drive somewhere, do some chores, and run other errands. These tasks may seem like they are eating away at your day, but they offer you a moment of activity you can use to focus. Use each moment as an opportunity to do nothing else.
Sit at a red light and stare at it. Don’t think about anything else. As you wash your hands, do so with intent, scrubbing every inch of each hand. Watch the motions, and ignore what is around you. Sip your morning beverage in silence, focusing on the taste and the movement of the liquid. Examine each dish as you wash them.
Avoid Multi-Tasking
To get more done, or create the illusion of busyness, you may work on two activities simultaneously. However, this merely splits your attention, making it harder to work efficiently on either one. Choose a task, at work or home, and do nothing else until it is done. Use the other task as motivation to stay on the current task, as you still need to complete it.
Try New Things
Life becomes a series of repetitions and habits, as humans are creatures of pattern. While this can be extremely efficient, it breeds stagnation. Go to work a different way, go to work early, or sleep in instead of getting up early or vice versa. Whatever your routines are, change them, but do this in your normal life, not on a vacation.
Living a mindful life helps you focus on the present as much as a wandering mind can help you reduce stress by helping you detach. There is a balance between living in the now and exploring what is coming or has already happened.
Additional Resources:
https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/08/06/7-small-ways-to-live-more-mindfully-every-day/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/habits-mindful-people_n_5186510.html
https://buddhaimonia.com/blog/7-ways-to-live-more-mindfully-in-the-modern-world
https://www.mindful.org/how-do-i-bring-more-mindfulness-into-my-life/
https://mrsmindfulness.com/7-habits-highly-mindful-people-integrate-life/
https://www.mindful.org/3-ways-to-live-a-mindful-life/
https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/mindfulness-tips/
