21 Mindful Habits You Can Adopt Today
Mindfulness is a state of purposeful attention in the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad. Mindfulness means living in the moment, in the here and now, cultivating true awareness of life, unspoiled by preconception and fear. This in turn leads to a healthier, happier mind, which means a more contented, prosperous existence.
Mindfulness is a practice, something we can all benefit from. It’s not an exclusive character trait or a permanent state of being. It comes and goes, occasionally altogether for days at a time. But that’s okay, because a man isn’t judged by his successes or failures, rather his persistence to try again, and again, and again.
That said, mindfulness is most effective when practiced daily – a feat which would be so much easier if barricaded from all sides with stability and tick-tock precision. Unfortunately, life is anything but. Life never exists at a single, steady pace. It’s a roller coaster of change and emotion. And just when you think you’ve managed to get things under control, a hurricane of stimulants sweep through your mind and all of your carefully learned habits are thrown into disarray.
The good news is that every failure is a lesson. And, soon enough, from under the rubble of repeated failures bloom buds of improved awareness. And this is the beauty of mindfulness: There’s always this moment, right now, to start again, to cultivate a greater awareness of this person playing this role in this sitcom we call life.
With these 21 Mindful Habits, you can start your mindfulness journey right now. But take your time. For the more patient the practice the greater the reward, which in the case of mindfulness, is the greatest reward of all – inner peace.
21 Mindful Habits
1. Develop only one habit at a time
Start slowly. Choose one habit and keep at it until it becomes so natural that not a day goes past without it naturally arising.
2. Practice gratitude
It is important to take daily notice of the blessings we receive. It also reminds us to find joy in the smallest of things. As we practice gratitude, we’ll become more aware that even in the bleakest situation, there’s always something to be thankful for.
3. Feel your feet and palms
Clench your hands into tight fists and release. Clench. Release. Do the same thing with your toes. And if that’s too much dexterity, just wiggle your toes. This is one of the physical anchors of self-awareness.
4. Take note of the environment
You don’t have to react or manipulate your feelings and surroundings to stay rooted in the present moment. Just take notice of what’s going on, and move on. A great way to re-centre in the present is to take a walk in the park, by the sea or any nature-filed area. Allow your mind to let go and just notice all the wonderful smells, sounds, objects and movement. Notice how everything is just as it should be, whether you hold onto it in your thoughts or not.
5. Set a cyclic alarm
Set an alarm to ring every few hours to remind you to stop what you’re doing and take notice of your surrounding for a few seconds. This is a simple way to bring your awareness back to centre and prevent being swept along on auto-pilot.
6. Breathe deeply
Yoga teachings say that the longer the breath the longer you live. Inhale and slowly count to three, then exhale and do the same. Employ your entire torso: Nostrils, throat, collar bones, ribcage, diaphragm. Feel the rush of fresh, oxygenated blood fill you up with renewed life.
7. Prioritize
Mindfulness is a practice that needs prioritizing. It needs to get as close as possible to the top of your mental awareness, assuming the role of gatekeeper for your daily tasks.
8. Turn down the noise
Turn off your gadgets for a couple of hours. Your TV, your smartphone, your tablet. Once you get used to it, you won’t miss the noise, and it certainly won’t miss you.
9. Listen, don’t just hear
Value live, face-to-face interactions with people. A conversation costs not only yours but also someone’s time and attention. It is a precious privilege. Being mindful of that privilege means becoming distracted until the conversation is over.
10. Watch what you eat
Literally look at, sniff and taste your food properly, and don’t do anything else while you eat. Dietary regimes teach us to watch what we eat, but mindful eating makes things much simpler than counting calories. The mindfulness approach triggers a natural ability to identify which foods the body thrives on and those that are just convenient, quick fixes. While eating, consider where your food came from, how it grew, its journey from the land to your plate.
11. Shower
Workers in the creative fields swear by this. There’s something wholly mindful about washing away the cobwebs, so to speak, and emerging fresh, in the moment and ready to flourish. There’s also a fair few mindful activities going on while you shower, too.
12. Delete time-wasting apps
If you haven’t used an app for more than a month, then chances are you don’t need it. And if you don’t need it, it’s wasting resource and space. Ever wondered how much time you waste searching through the pile for an app that you actually do need?
13. Read
Reading is a form of meditation, and a wonderful way to bring the mind home. Reading triggers some of the same effects as meditation; a slowing of thoughts and calming of the mind, reduced heart rate and a heightened ability to focus.
14. Break your day into parts
Why? Because if you are mindful about how you spend a day, you’ll naturally progress to being mindful about how you’re spending your life.
15. Meditate
And if you can’t meditate because you’re short on time, choose the longest queue in the store. Having to wait is one of the best ways to accept your place in the moment.
16. Nap
Whether a few minutes or half an hour, naps are an awesome way to just “be” for a while.
17. Smile to strangers
There’s a Sufistic saying that one should be kind to strangers, lest they may be angels in disguise. Say no more.
18. Listen to your intuition
People who practice mindfulness can, after some time, better connect and learn to trust their intuition. Mindfulness helps hone one’s inner guide, that voice we often ignore because it contradicts logic, but is the very pathway to inner peace. Start listening and trusting your intuition. The results will speak for themselves.
19. Choose your words
Begin taking note of how you speak with others. Often preconceptions and misguided beliefs lead us to come across in a way that doesn’t truly reflect our inner person. Moreover, our personal frustration, insecurities, fears and anger shape the whip of our tongue. Do you speak kindly to others, or have you fallen into an autopilot pattern of speaking in a harsh tone? Do you come across as critical or judgmental?
20. Speak kindly to yourself
We can only be as kind to others as we are to ourselves. Take a few moments to notice how you speak to yourself. What is the inner commentator saying ? Is it cheering you on as you surmount life’s challenges, or does it criticize you unfairly? Be patient with yourself. Praise yourself in your efforts, and forgive yourself in your shortcomings. You are but a human.
21. Cry
Mindfulness creates a connection between our feelings, thoughts and physical reactions. Not only is it an act of bravery whereby we expose our weaknesses, it is a wonderful release of emotion – both negative and positive – that rejuvenates the soul and helps us come into the present.
