How to improve mindfulness
5 Simple Mindfulness Practices for Daily Life
How often have you rushed out the door and into your day without even thinking about how you’d like things to go? Before you know it, something or someone has rubbed you the wrong way, and you’ve reacted automatically with frustration, impatience, or rage—in other words, you’ve found yourself acting in a way you never intended.
You don’t have to be stuck in these patterns. Pausing to practice mindfulness for just a few minutes at different times during the day can help your days be better, more in line with how you’d like them to be.
Explore these five daily practices for bringing more mindfulness into your life:
Marta Locklear/StocksyIntention refers to the underlying motivation for everything we think, say, or do. From the brain’s perspective, when we act in unintended ways, there’s a disconnect between the faster, unconscious impulses of the lower brain centers and the slower, conscious, wiser abilities of the higher centers like the pre-frontal cortex.
Given that the unconscious brain is in charge of most of our decision-making and behaviors, this practice can help you align your conscious thinking with a primal emotional drive that the lower centers care about. Beyond safety, these include motivations like reward, connection, purpose, self-identity and core values.
Setting an intention—keeping those primal motivations in mind—helps strengthen this connection between the lower and higher centers. Doing so can change your day, making it more likely that your words, actions and responses— especially during moments of difficulty—will be more mindful and compassionate.
This practice is best done first thing in the morning, before checking phones or email.
1. On waking, sit in your bed or a chair in a relaxed posture. Close your eyes and connect with the sensations of your seated body. Make sure your spine is straight, but not rigid.
2. Take three long, deep, nourishing breaths—breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Then let your breath settle into its own rhythm, as you simply follow it in and out, noticing the rise and fall of your chest and belly as you breathe.
3. Ask yourself: “What is my intention for today?” Use these prompts to help answer that question, as you think about the people and activities you will face. Ask yourself:
How might I show up today to have the best impact?
What quality of mind do I want to strengthen and develop?
What do I need to take better care of myself?
During difficult moments, how might I be more compassionate to others and myself?
How might I feel more connected and fulfilled?
4. Set your intention for the day. For example, “Today, I will be kind to myself; be patient with others; give generously; stay grounded; persevere; have fun; eat well,” or anything else you feel is important.
5. Throughout the day, check in with yourself.
Pause, take a breath, and revisit your intention. Notice, as you become more and more conscious of your intentions for each day, how the quality of your communications, relationships, and mood shifts.
It’s easy enough to reduce eating to a sensation of bite, chew, and swallow. Who hasn’t eaten a plateful of food without noticing what they’re doing? Yet eating is one of the most pleasurable experiences we engage in as human beings, and doing it mindfully can turn eating into a far richer experience, satisfying not just the need for nutrition, but more subtle senses and needs. When we bring our full attention to our bodies and what we are truly hungry for, we can nourish all our hungers. Try this:
1. Breathe before eating. We often move from one task right to the other without pausing or taking a breath. By pausing, we slow down and allow for a more calm transition to our meals. Bring your attention inward by closing your eyes, and begin to breathe slowly in and out of your belly for eight to 10 deep breaths before you start your meal.
2. Listen to your body. After breathing, bring your awareness to the physical sensations in your belly. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being that you don’t feel any physical sensation of hunger and 10 being that you feel very hungry, ask yourself “How hungry am I?” What physical sensations tell you that you are hungry or not hungry (emptiness in stomach, shakiness, no desire to eat, stomach growling, etc.)? Try not to think about when you last ate or what time it is, and really listen to your body, not your thoughts.
3. Eat according to your hunger. Now that you are more in touch with how hungry you are, you can more mindfully choose what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat. This simple practice can help you tune in to your real needs.
4. Practice peaceful eating. At your next meal, slow down and continue to breathe deeply as you eat. It’s not easy to digest or savor your food if you aren’t relaxed.
5. If you don’t love it, don’t eat it.
Take your first three bites mindfully, experience the taste, flavors, textures, and how much enjoyment you are receiving from a certain food. Make a mindful choice about what to eat based on what you really enjoy.
It’s estimated that 95% of our behavior runs on autopilot—something I call “fast brain.” That’s because neural networks underlie all of our habits, reducing our millions of sensory inputs per second into manageable shortcuts so we can function in this crazy world. These default brain signals are like signaling superhighways, so efficient that they often cause us to relapse into old behaviors before we remember what we meant to do instead.
Mindfulness is the exact opposite of these processes; it’s slow brain. It’s executive control rather than autopilot, and enables intentional actions, willpower, and decisions. But that takes some practice. The more we activate the slow brain, the stronger it gets. Every time we do something deliberate and new, we stimulate neuroplasticity, activating our grey matter, which is full of newly sprouted neurons that have not yet been groomed for the fast brain.
But here’s the problem. While my slow brain knows what is best for me, my fast brain is causing me to shortcut my way through life. So how can we trigger ourselves to be mindful when we need it most? This is where the notion of “behavior design” comes in. It’s a way to put your slow brain in the driver’s seat. There are two ways to do that—first, slowing down the fast brain by putting obstacles in its way, and second, removing obstacles in the path of the slow brain, so it can gain control.
Shifting the balance to give your slow brain more power takes some work, though. Here are some ways to get started.
1. Trip over what you want to do. If you intend to do some yoga or to meditate, put your yoga mat or your meditation cushion in the middle of your floor so you can’t miss it as you walk by.
2. Refresh your triggers regularly. Say you decide to use sticky notes to remind yourself of a new intention. That might work for about a week, but then your fast brain and old habits take over again.
Try writing new notes to yourself; add variety or make them funny so they stick with you longer.
3. Create new patterns. You could try a series of “If this, then that” messages to create easy reminders to shift into slow brain. For instance, you might come up with, “If office door, then deep breath,” as a way to shift into mindfulness as you are about to start your workday. Or, “If phone rings, take a breath before answering.” Each intentional action to shift into mindfulness will strengthen your slow brain.
Female athlete tying her shoes. Shot from above in sunset light. Shot in 50 megapixel resolution.Riding a bike, lifting weights, sweating it out on a treadmill—what do such exercises have in common? For one thing, each can be a mindfulness practice. Whatever the physical activity—dancing the Tango, taking a swim—instead of simply working out to burn calories, master a skill, or improve condition, you can move and breathe in a way that not only gets your blood pumping and invigorates every cell in your body, but also shifts you from feeling busy and distracted to feeling strong and capable.
Ready? The following steps, good for any activity, will help you synchronize body, mind, and nervous system. As you do, you will strengthen your capacity to bring all of your energy to the task at hand.
1. Be clear about your aim. As you tie your laces or pull on your gardening gloves, bring purpose to your activity by consciously envisioning how you want your guide your session. As you climb on your bike you might say, “I am going to breathe deeply and notice the sensation of the breeze and the sun and the passing scenery.” As you enter the pool, you might say, “I’m going to pay attention to each stroke, and the sound and feel of the water surrounding me.”
2. Warm up (5 minutes). Try any simple moves— jumping jacks, stretching— and concentrate on matching the rhythm of your breath to your movement. By moving rhythmically, your brain activity, heart rate, and nervous system begin to align and stabilize.
3. Settle into a rhythm (10 to 15 minutes).
Pick up the intensity, but continue to coordinate your breath and movement. If you have trouble doing this, then simply focus on your breathing for a few minutes. Eventually you’ll find your groove.
4. Challenge yourself (10 to 15 minutes). Try faster speed, more repetitions, or heavier weights, depending on what you are doing. Notice how alert and alive you feel when pushing yourself.
5. Cool down (5 minutes). Steadily slow down your pace until you come to a standstill. Notice the way your body feels. Drink in your surroundings.
6. Rest (5 minutes). Quietly recognize the symphony of sensations flowing in and around you. Practice naming what you feel and sense. Chances are you’ll feel awake and alive from head to toe.
Plainpicture/Johner/Peter CarlssonThere’s nothing like heavy traffic and impatient drivers to trigger the “fight or flight” response. That’s why road rage erupts and stress levels soar, while reason is overrun.
The worse the traffic, the worse the stress. Los Angeles, where I live, has some of the worst traffic around, and some of the most unserene drivers. Emotions run high, tempers flare, tires squeal.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. In fact, the snarliest traffic jam can provide an excellent opportunity to build your mindfulness muscle, increase your sense of connection to others, and restore some balance and perspective.
Here are the steps to a simple behind-the-wheel practice I’ve been doing for a while. I’ve found it can work wonders.
1. First, take a deep breath. This simple, yet profound advice helps bring more oxygen into your body and widens the space between the stimulus of the traffic and your heightened stress reaction. In this space lies perspective and choice.
2. Ask yourself what you need. It may be in that moment that you need to feel safe, at ease or you just need some relief. Understanding what you need will bring balance.
3. Give yourself what you need. If ease is what you need, you can scan your body for any tension (not a bad thing to do while driving in any case) and soften any tension or adjust your body as needed. You can sprinkle in some phrases of self-compassion, such as, “May I be at ease, may I feel safe, may I be happy.”
4. Look around and recognize that all the other drivers are just like you. Everyone on the road wants the same thing you do—to feel safe, have a sense of ease, and to be happy. Chances are you’ll see a number of fellow drivers who look a bit agitated, but you might also catch that one who is singing or actually smiling, and this will dissipate some of your own stress immediately. You can apply to all of them what you just offered to yourself, saying, “May you be at ease, may you feel safe, may you be happy.”
5. Take another deep breath. In 15 seconds or less, you can turn around your mood by applying these simple tips.
When you feel the frustration of traffic rising, choose whatever you need to work on, and offer that condition to others. If you need to feel safe, say, “May I be safe, may you be safe, may we all be safe.” Breathe in, breathe out, you’ve sowed a seed of happiness.
This article also appeared in the April 2016 issue of Mindful magazine.
Five Steps to Mindfulness - Mindful
Our true home is not in the past. Our true home is not in the future. Our true home is in the here and the now. Life is available only in the here and the now, and it is our true home.
Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the conditions of happiness that are already present in our lives. You don’t have to wait ten years to experience this happiness. It is present in every moment of your daily life. There are those of us who are alive but don’t know it. But when you breathe in, and you are aware of your in-breath, you touch the miracle of being alive. That is why mindfulness is a source of happiness and joy.
Most people are forgetful; they are not really there a lot of the time. Their mind is caught in their worries, their fears, their anger, and their regrets, and they are not mindful of being there. That state of being is called forgetfulness—you are there but you are not there. You are caught in the past or in the future. You are not there in the present moment, living your life deeply. That is forgetfulness.
The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together. You breathe in and out mindfully, you bring your mind back to your body, and you are there. When your mind is there with your body, you are established in the present moment. Then you can recognize the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you, and happiness just comes naturally.
Mindfulness practice should be enjoyable, not work or effort. Do you have to make an effort to breath in? You don’t need to make an effort. To breathe in, you just breathe in.
Suppose you are with a group of people contemplating a beautiful sunset. Do you have to make an effort to enjoy the beautiful sunset? No, you don’t have to make any effort. You just enjoy it.
The same thing is true with your breath. Allow your breath to take place. Become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. Enjoyment. The same thing is true with walking mindfully. Every step you take is enjoyable. Every step helps you to touch the wonders of life, in yourself and around you. Every step is peace. Every step is joy. That is possible.
During the time you are practicing mindfulness, you stop talking—not only the talking outside, but the talking inside. The talking inside is the thinking, the mental discourse that goes on and on and on inside. Real silence is the cessation of talking—of both the mouth and of the mind. This is not the kind of silence that oppresses us. It is a very elegant kind of silence, a very powerful kind of silence. It is the silence that heals and nourishes us.
Mindfulness gives birth to joy and happiness. Another source of happiness is concentration. The energy of mindfulness carries within it the energy of concentration. When you are aware of something, such as a flower, and can maintain that awareness, we say that you are concentrated on the flower. When your mindfulness becomes powerful, your concentration becomes powerful, and when you are fully concentrated, you have a chance to make a breakthrough, to achieve insight. If you meditate on a cloud, you can get insight into the nature of the cloud. Or you can meditate on a pebble, and if you have enough mindfulness and concentration, you can see into the nature of the pebble. You can meditate on a person, and if you have enough mindfulness and concentration, you can make a breakthrough and understand the nature of that person. You can meditate on yourself, or your anger, or your fear, or your joy, or your peace.
When your mindfulness becomes powerful, your concentration becomes powerful, and when you are fully concentrated, you have a chance to make a breakthrough, to achieve insight.
Anything can be the object of your meditation, and with the powerful energy of concentration, you can make a breakthrough and develop insight. It’s like a magnifying glass concentrating the light of the sun. If you put the point of concentrated light on a piece of paper, it will burn. Similarly, when your mindfulness and concentration are powerful, your insight will liberate you from fear, anger, and despair, and bring you true joy, true peace, and true happiness.
When you contemplate the big, full sunrise, the more mindful and concentrated you are, the more the beauty of the sunrise is revealed to you. Suppose you are offered a cup of tea, very fragrant, very good tea. If your mind is distracted, you cannot really enjoy the tea. You have to be mindful of the tea, you have to be concentrated on it, so the tea can reveal its fragrance and wonder to you. That is why mindfulness and concentration are such sources of happiness. That’s why a good practitioner knows how to create a moment of joy, a feeling of happiness, at any time of the day.
The first exercise is very simple, but the power, the result, can be very great. The exercise is simply to identify the in-breath as in-breath and the out-breath as out-breath. When you breathe in, you know that this is your in-breath. When you breathe out, you are mindful that this is your out-breath.
Just recognize: this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath. Very simple, very easy. In order to recognize your in-breath as in-breath, you have to bring your mind home to yourself. What is recognizing your in-breath is your mind, and the object of your mind—the object of your mindfulness—is the in-breath. Mindfulness is always mindful of something. When you drink your tea mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of drinking. When you walk mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of walking. And when you breathe mindfully, that is mindfulness of breathing.
So the object of your mindfulness is your breath, and you just focus your attention on it. Breathing in, this is my in-breath. Breathing out, this is my out-breath.
When you do that, the mental discourse will stop. You don’t think anymore. You don’t have to make an effort to stop your thinking; you bring your attention to your in-breath and the mental discourse just stops. That is the miracle of the practice. You don’t think of the past anymore. You don’t think of the future. You don’t think of your projects, because you are focusing your attention, your mindfulness, on your breath.
Mindfulness is always mindful of something. When you drink your tea mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of drinking. When you walk mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of walking. And when you breathe mindfully, that is mindfulness of breathing.
It gets even better. You can enjoy your in-breath. The practice can be pleasant, joyful. Someone who is dead cannot take any more in-breaths. But you are alive. You are breathing in, and while breathing in, you know that you are alive. The in-breath can be a celebration of the fact that you are alive, so it can be very joyful.
When you are joyful and happy, you don’t feel that you have to make any effort at all. I am alive; I am breathing in. To be still alive is a miracle. The greatest of all miracles is to be alive, and when you breathe in, you touch that miracle. Therefore, your breathing can be a celebration of life.
An in-breath may take three, four, five seconds, it depends. That’s time to be alive, time to enjoy your breath. You don’t have to interfere with your breathing. If your in-breath is short, allow it to be short. If your out-breath is long, let it be long. Don’t try to force it. The practice is simple recognition of the in-breath and the out-breath. That is good enough. It will have a powerful effect.
The second exercise is that while you breathe in, you follow your in-breath from the beginning to the end. If your in-breath lasts three or four seconds, then your mindfulness also lasts three or four seconds. Breathing in, I follow my in-breath all the way through. Breathing out, I follow my out-breath all the way through.
From the beginning of my out-breath to the end of my out-breath, my mind is always with it. Therefore, mindfulness becomes uninterrupted, and the quality of your concentration is improved.
So the second exercise is to follow your in-breath and your out-breath all the way through. Whether they are short or long, it doesn’t matter. What is important is that you follow your in-breath from the beginning to the end. Your awareness is sustained. There is no interruption. Suppose you are breathing in, and then you think, “Oh, I forgot to turn off the light in my room.” There is an interruption. Just stick to your in-breath all the way through. Then you cultivate your mindfulness and your concentration. You become your in-breath. You become your out-breath. If you continue like that, your breathing will naturally become deeper and slower, more harmonious and peaceful. You don’t have to make any effort—it happens naturally.
The third exercise is to become aware of your body as you are breathing.
“Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body.” This takes it one step further.
In the first exercise, you became aware of your in-breath and your out-breath. Because you have now generated the energy of mindfulness through mindful breathing, you can use that energy to recognize your body.
“Breathing in, I am aware of my body. Breathing out, I am aware of my body.” I know my body is there. This brings the mind wholly back to the body. Mind and body become one reality. When your mind is with your body, you are well-established in the here and the now. You are fully alive. You can be in touch with the wonders of life that are available in yourself and around you.
When your mind is with your body, you are well-established in the here and the now. You are fully alive.
This exercise is simple, but the effect of the oneness of body and mind is very great. In our daily lives, we are seldom in that situation. Our body is there but our mind is elsewhere.
Our mind may be caught in the past or in the future, in regrets, sorrow, fear, or uncertainty, and so our mind is not there. Someone may be present in the house, but he’s not really there, his mind is not there. His mind is with the future, with his projects, and he’s not there for his children or his spouse. Maybe you could say to him, “Anybody home?” and help him bring his mind back to his body.
So the third exercise is to become aware of your body. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my body.” When you practice mindful breathing, the quality of your in-breath and out-breath will be improved. There is more peace and harmony in your breathing, and if you continue to practice like that, the peace and the harmony will penetrate into the body, and the body will profit.
The next exercise is to release the tension in the body. When you are truly aware of your body, you notice there is some tension and pain in your body, some stress. The tension and pain have been accumulating for a long time and our bodies suffer, but our mind is not there to help release it.
Therefore, it is very important to learn how to release the tension in the body.
The tension and pain have been accumulating for a long time and our bodies suffer, but our mind is not there to help release it.
In a sitting, lying, or standing position, it’s always possible to release the tension. You can practice total relaxation, deep relaxation, in a sitting or lying position. While you are driving your car, you might notice the tension in your body. You are eager to arrive and you don’t enjoy the time you spend driving. When you come to a red light, you are eager for the red light to become a green light so that you can continue. But the red light can be a signal. It can be a reminder that there is tension in you, the stress of wanting to arrive as quickly as possible. If you recognize that, you can make use of the red light. You can sit back and relax—take the ten seconds the light is red to practice mindful breathing and release the tension in the body.
So next time you’re stopped at a red light, you might like to sit back and practice the fourth exercise: “Breathing in, I’m aware of my body. Breathing out, I release the tension in my body.” Peace is possible at that moment, and it can be practiced many times a day—in the workplace, while you are driving, while you are cooking, while you are doing the dishes, while you are watering the vegetable garden. It is always possible to practice releasing the tension in yourself.
When you practice mindful breathing you simply allow your in breath to take place. You become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. The same thing is true with mindful walking. Every step is enjoyable. Every step helps you touch the wonders of life. Every step is joy. That is possible.
When you practice mindful breathing you simply allow your in breath to take place. You become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness.
You don’t have to make any effort during walking meditation, because it is enjoyable.
You are there, body and mind together. You are fully alive, fully present in the here and the now. With every step, you touch the wonders of life that are in you and around you. When you walk like that, every step brings healing. Every step brings peace and joy, because every step is a miracle.
The real miracle is not to fly or walk on fire. The real miracle is to walk on the Earth, and you can perform that miracle at any time. Just bring your mind home to your body, become alive, and perform the miracle of walking on Earth.
Iron attention: how to improve vigilance in a few minutes
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Iron Attention: How to Improve Vigilance in a Few Minutes
February 16, 2018 23 378 views
Natalia Shirokova
When we are concentrated and attentive, work is easy: we quickly get things done, communicate effectively with people, remember the important and weed out the superfluous. But the digital age does not affect the ability to pay attention in the best way.
There is so much information around that we cannot concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes. nine0003
Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson, authors of Altered Traits, believe that attention can be greatly improved through meditation. Moreover, the effect is achieved quite quickly - in just a few minutes of practice a day. And there is evidence for that.
Attention!
Attention passes through a tiny channel in the brain, and we carefully allocate this narrow space. The lion's share is allocated to what we decide to focus on at the moment. But gradually concentration inevitably weakens, the mind begins to wander in other thoughts. nine0003
Meditation challenges this mental inertia.
The purpose of any kind of meditation is to keep the attention on a chosen subject, such as the breath. This helps to make attention more stable when solving work tasks.
Here is one of the proofs. Scientists studied volunteers who completed a three-month meditation retreat with the practice of focusing on breathing. A significant improvement in vigilance was noticeable already in the first month of the retreat and persisted even five months after its completion. According to the subjects, the improvement was achieved after an hour of daily practice. nine0003
Struggling with multitasking
We are all suffering from the “total disaster” in life inherent in the digital age: incoming emails, urgent documents, voice messages and other things that storm the brain at the same time. We pride ourselves on our ability to multi-task, continuing to do important work while monitoring all incoming channels.
Trying to control everything around us, we lose the ability to concentrate on what is important. — Source
But a detailed study by Stanford University showed that this idea itself is a myth: the brain is not capable of multitasking, but switches from one task (work) to another (funny videos, news from friends, urgent documents, and so on). nine0003
Multitasking harms cognitive control - the ability to focus on a specific goal and keep it in mind while resisting distractions. This iron-clad attention is essential for everything, even when compiling a standard list of everyday tasks.
How to strengthen cognitive control
We cannot eliminate distractions. But we can strengthen cognitive control. The students practiced ten-minute concentration sessions on counting breaths. Just three 10-minute sessions were enough to significantly improve attention skills on a range of tasks. The biggest increase was recorded among avid multitaskers, who initially performed worse on the task. nine0003
Multitasking leads to a weakening of attention, and concentration training, such as counting breath cycles, helps bring it to tone.
Even beginners in meditation can improve their attention skills with some amazing results. For example, researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara gave volunteers an eight-minute mindfulness of breath training session. They found that, compared to reading the newspaper or simply relaxing, this small concentration session subsequently reduced mind wandering. nine0003
Moreover, mindfulness also improves working memory, the ability to retain information in the mind so that the brain then remembers it for a long time.
5-10 minutes a day
Research shows that even a few minutes of practice a day can help you become more focused, more attentive, more productive. Perhaps it's worth it. to highlight a window for meditation in the schedule.
A few minutes of concentration on the breath will help you concentrate on your work. — Source
Try to focus on your breath for several minutes, counting the number of cycles (inhale + exhale).
When the mind wanders, gently bring it back. Do this exercise for several days in a row and watch the results. It is possible that they will exceed your expectations.
Based on Altered Traits
Post cover — unsplash.com
How to develop mindfulness: 5 ways to train
We all regularly observe situations where someone gets into an unpleasant situation due to their inattention. Although, what to dissemble? Not only do we become witnesses, but we ourselves, from time to time, turn out to be inattentive. Why it happens? Is it possible to fight this? How to develop mindfulness? How difficult is it? Are there special mindfulness exercises? How much time should be dedicated to this? What is mindfulness training? If you carefully read this article, you will find the answers to all questions. nine0003
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the ability to concentrate on the performance of a certain activity, to focus on a specific object or phenomenon. Accordingly, mindfulness training consists in developing a person's ability to focus his attention, and not spray it around.
Most often, external stimuli or distant thoughts prevent us from concentrating. For example, it is difficult for a student to concentrate on completing a written assignment when a classmate interferes with the lesson and pesters him. Even if this student is alone in his room, but in his head all thoughts are devoted to playing football with friends, he will also fail to be attentive. nine0003
It turns out that trying to figure out how to develop mindfulness, first of all, it is necessary to understand how we can learn to concentrate and drive away all extraneous thoughts.
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How to develop mindfulness?
In addition to developing this quality, it is worth devoting no less time to the ability to recognize distractions and deal with them. In time management, there is the concept of chronophages, which literally “devour” our time and efforts. The same can be said about mindfulness, which can also suffer because of similar "chronophages". In order for them not to cause harm, it is necessary to understand what exactly scatters our attention and steals time. nine0003
For example, someone wants to focus on important work, but is distracted by the noise in the street or thoughts about last night. Until a person gets rid of these factors, he will not be able to fully devote himself to the task. What to do? Street sounds are easier to deal with. You can close the window or use headphones with light melodic music, preferably without words. Thoughts are harder to overcome. Only willpower will help here. If there is a complete “mess” in your head, then it is better to take a short break, drink a cup of tea or coffee, during this time trying to think over everything you wanted. nine0003
How to train mindfulness?
Mindfulness training consists in developing the ability to concentrate and concentrate. There are a variety of mindfulness exercises that can be done without any additional devices, or with the help of online services that are freely available on the Internet.
How to improve mindfulness? How long will it take? The question is rhetorical and does not imply a definite answer. The thing is, every single case is different. It all depends on the abilities of a person, his age and the amount of free time that he can devote to training. Some will see results in a week, while others will need several months or even more. But they all have one thing in common. Both of them need to take the “first step”, otherwise they will not move from the “zero mark”. nine0003
Effective techniques for developing mindfulness include:
- Counting certain objects or objects;
- Detail memory;
- Diary of memories;
- Difference games;
- Mobile applications;
The first three methods do not require additional devices, and the fourth and fifth methods most often require access to the Internet.
1. Counting certain objects or items. nine0113
A good way to develop mindfulness is to count things while walking. For example, if you're walking through a city, you might count cars of a certain color, specific shop signs, or lampposts. In the case of a walk in a forest or field, plants, insects or birds will become an alternative. How many times have we met a birch, a squirrel, a ladybug, etc.
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2.
The development of attentiveness is connected with the ability to concentrate. Take a certain object in your hand and try to remember as many of its details as possible. It is desirable that this thing be a little more diverse than a ball or pyramid. You can do the same with people, but it is advisable to warn them in advance about this. It is unlikely that anyone will like that during a conversation they examine him from head to toe. Next, you need to try to reproduce in memory as many details as possible. This exercise helps in the development of memory and mindfulness. nine0003
3. Diary of memories.
This is not necessarily a diary in the truest sense of the word. You can do without writing down thoughts on paper. It is enough just to walk in the nearest park or square in the evening, remembering everything that happened during the day. For example, who they met, what they were wearing, what they talked about, etc. This exercise, in addition to developing mindfulness, also improves memory, as well as the performance of the brain as a whole.
4. Search for differences.
An old popular game in which you have to find the differences between several similar pictures. It trains attentiveness and perseverance very well. Similar games are presented in large numbers on the Internet. They also appear on the pages of printed publications. You can play it in real life by asking a friend or relative to help. While the player leaves the room or closes their eyes, the assistant must hide something. What exactly? This is worth finding out. For example, how many cups were in the service? Is everyone enough? Or maybe there are fewer newspapers on the coffee table? A couple of workouts and the development of mindfulness are provided. nine0003
5. Mobile applications.
In addition to wasting time browsing social media and video games, smartphones can be really useful. Especially if you install developing applications on them. There are many specialized programs that allow you to improve brain function, including increasing mindfulness.
