Would you like to learn how to refresh your mind while surrounded with the chaos of dealing with modern life? One of the best ways to calm your mind is by practicing mindful living, i.e. living in the now.
There are many benefits, both mental and physical, from living your life in a mindful manner. And mindfulness is a simple skill that can be easily learned by anyone.
In this busy world of ours, the mind is constantly pulled from pillar to post, scattering our thoughts and emotions and leaving us feeling stressed, highly-strung and at times quite anxious.
Most of us don’t have five minutes to sit down and relax, let alone 30 minutes or more for a meditation session. But it is essential for our wellbeing to take a few minutes each day to cultivate mental spaciousness and achieve a positive mind-body balance.
So if you are a busy bee like me, try using these simple mindfulness exercises to empty your mind and find some much-needed calm amidst the madness of your hectic day. Also, these simple exercises help you to develop and cultivate mindful living habits in your life.
Bookmark this page and try to do these exercises on daily basis.
Happy Times
What makes happy you today? Recall the happiest moment from today and describe it in great detail to share them with the universe.
There’s a strong connection between happiness and mindfulness. Journaling brings you into that state of mindfulness; past frustrations and future anxieties lose their edge in the present moment. It calls a wandering mind to attention, from passivity to actively engaging with your thoughts.
Smile Jars
Difficulty: CASUAL | Frequency: 1X/DAY |
This is a project I started in my own life many years ago, and it has remained a practice that I’ve tried to keep up with regularity ever since.
The SMILE JAR is an almost absurdly simple idea — every single day, at the end of the day, I make a list of things that make me smile today. That’s the whole practice.
It brings me is enormous the pleasure of finding a good moment in each day (for even the horrible days have one least-bad moment).
Random Act of Kindness
Difficulty: MODERATE | Frequency: 1X/DAY |
It can be the simplest little things that make the biggest difference. Giving to others can be so rewarding and meaningful. It can be as simple as asking about someone’s day or offering to help a friend out with a favor. What makes these actions even better is knowing that the recipient will be surprised by our kindness and, hopefully, inspired to pass along the good sentiment.
Injecting random acts of kindness into daily life is a great way for a person to brighten his or her attitude, as well as to help others. Research consistently shows that volunteering and helping others not only encourages civic responsibility, but also helps us develop social skills, strengthen our communities, and learn about our interests and talents and how we can be applied in the real world.
Gratitude Journal
Difficulty: CASUAL | Frequency: 1X/DAY |
Just five minutes daily is all it takes to rewire your brain and unleash everything great in your life – and it starts with Gratitude! By practicing awareness of the positive things in life, we fight off the brain’s natural tendency to scan for and spot the negatives. As a result, we train our brains to be more positive and thus happier.
When you write about a happy event, your brain relives that good feeling. And when you focus repeatedly on something that feels good, your brain rewires itself to do that more effortlessly in the future.
Loving-kindness Meditation
Loving-Kindness meditation focuses on developing feelings of goodwill, kindness and warmth towards others (Salzberg, 1997). Compassion, kindness and empathy are very basic emotions to us. Research shows that Loving Kindness Meditation has a tremendous amount of benefits ranging from benefitting well-being, to giving relief from illness and improving emotional intelligence.
Living in the now, and making the most of the present moment is the key 🙂
Absolutely love this ☺️
Hi , very impressive.I read it yesterday but couldn’t help reading it again today .I have also started writing my journal which feels great.
Thanks for writing it.keep it up please.
This is really good. I actually came across the Body Scan Meditation a few years ago, I find it really helps me to relax. Someone recommended Mindfulness to me recently and it’s something I am going to try.
What an excellent resource!
Your Happy Times suggestion reminded me of how many times, each and every day, I am delighted while working in my garden. The discovery of a shed lizard skin, a tiny new flower, sunlight reflecting off a hummingbird’s wings – life is filled to overflowing with these wonders, if we only take the time to see them.
There are some great strategies here for mindful living.
Excellent post… love the explanations of the types of meditation that many can benefit from. Cheers!