6 Simple Steps to Become more Present/Mindful
Do you struggle with constant thoughts about what you feel you SHOULD doing instead of what you’re CURRENTLY doing? Do you think about what work you need to be getting done while playing with the kids? Do you regurgitate an old conversation in your head over and over while you are brushing your teeth or showering?
If you have these thoughts, you are likely struggling to be Present or Mindful.
I know I personally wanted to overcome these thoughts for sooo long. I always thought the answer would be more directly related to the actual instance that I was in….but it is not necessarily.
The way to become more present is to PRACTICE the pieces of being present throughout the day (there are more opportunities than you would think, which I’ll outline below)! I think this is why I struggled for so long to just do the things I had heard to do. It didn’t seem like these things would help in the exact moment, so I was always looking for a different and more direct answer. But I believe this is just like anything you want to be good at – you have to practice to get better at it. And honestly, when you practice it, you are actually doing it! For example, when you play soccer – you must practice the pieces of soccer – dribbling, passing, controlling the ball, shooting, etc. Those all look different when practicing them because they are only PIECES of the game, however they all add up to things you need in the big game!
Here are 6 things you can do to practice Mindfulness/Presence!
By the way, there are millions of opportunities to practice mindfulness throughout the day, we just have to be more conscious of them!
1. Meditate - 5 minutes a day is all you need. When meditating, do not pass judgement or linger on negative thoughts/emotions, but focus on these:
a. Your breath
b. Sensations within your body.
c. Your thoughts and how they come and go (don’t linger on the actual thoughts, just visualize them coming and going)
d. Your feelings – how are you feeling right now?
2. Focus on what is going on in your inner body – feel the tightness of your muscles, your digestion, your energy/liveliness. Again, be sure to not pass judgement on these things, just notice them.
3. Ground yourself with your 5 senses –
a. Touch - Hold a marble in your hand and really think about how it feels, or give your pet a pat on the back.
b. Smell – Smell your food when you eat, smell some essential oils or flowers, etc.
c. See – Look at a painting or drawing and just focus on the lines and colors. View the beauty outside.
d. Hear – Close your eyes and listen for silence around you. You will actually notice that the world is never actually silent 😉
e. Taste – eat slowly and focus on the taste of the food – is it sweet, savory, sour, etc.?
4. Recite a mantra – Emile Coue invented this mantra that many people use. “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better”. You can create your own mantra if you want, but this kind of covers everything from health to money to mindset, etc.
5. Focus on movement – we go through the day doing things like brushing our teeth, or walking from the parking lot to our workplace without even thinking about what we are doing, but instead thinking about other things. When we put our focus on these tasks that usually get completely ignored, it helps pull our minds into the present moment!
6. Listen to others’ words closely. When we speak to others, most of the time we are thinking about what we should say next or wishing we had said something differently…This goes to show that we aren’t truly listening to the person we are talking with. If we just focus on their words, we will 1. Have more practice being mindful, and even better yet, 2. Have a better connection with this person. This can actually help people that have social anxiety, because the anxiety comes from their thoughts about the conversation, rather than the focus being on the conversation itself!
My question for you now is this – what will you implement from above, for the rest of this week to make sure you are more present?