Mindfulness takes place when one has complete awareness of the present moment and their surroundings, calmly accepting their own feelings and thoughts. Anybody can achieve mindfulness, it just takes practice.

Mindfulness benefits one’s well-being when practiced. Mindfulness helps one destress, regulates emotions and increases happiness. One can easily have distractions from staying mindful but, with certain practice techniques, anyone can maintain mindfulness.

Breathe

Just sitting back and breathing easily helps you stay mindful. Paying attention to breathing and feeling the air go through one’s lungs and out the nose, can help ground yourself and improve mindfulness. 

Start your day off with meditation

When waking up, make the habit of starting the day off with a short meditation. To check in with yourself in the morning, use the ‘STOP’ method. ‘STOP’ stands for, stop, take a deep breath, observe and proceed. To do this meditation, first, stop everything, take it in, then proceed. Next, take a deep breath, becoming fully present in your body. Then, observe how your body feels in that moment, bring your focus to everything happening in your body, feeling all the senses around you. After that, you can proceed with your day, feeling more mindful.

Stay in touch with your emotions

An important part of staying mindful consists of proper reactions to your emotions. When feeling a difficult emotion, such as frustration, depression, stress, anxiety or anything else that may upset you, mindfulness can help work through these feelings.

The key to using mindfulness to regulate your emotions consists of working with your emotions. First of all, notice your emotions and understand the root of these feelings and their effect. Stay with this emotion, give yourself some compassion and, after practice, you may accept any emotion that comes your way, experiencing how it makes you feel.

Go for a walk

When going on a walk, you have the ability to practice mindfulness. While walking, take in your surroundings step-by-step. When you start, walk at a natural, comfortable pace. At each step, pay attention to the way your foot feels as it steps on the ground, paying attention to the sensation of walking. If your mind ever starts to wander, guide yourself back to paying attention to your steps. 

Once you have focused on your steps, bring your awareness to sounds. Pay attention to the sounds, disregarding if you like or dislike the sound, noticing them as just a sound, nothing more. 

Now, shift your attention to your vision. While walking, notice colors and objects, not paying attention to one specific object, staying natural and calm.

Awareness of your surroundings helps you appreciate the gift of life, bringing clarity and gratitude to your daily routine. Introduce mindfulness to your life by doing these practices routinely.