This week we are talking about Incorporating mindfulness into everyday activities. Mindfulness is all about staying in the present without judgment. Often, mindfulness is thought of as meditation, but it’s so much more than that! Meditation is only one form of mindfulness.
Finding time to mediate is not always easy; it’s something extra to add into your schedule. I’m a big believer of making things as simple as possible. We all have too much on our plates to overcomplicate things.That’s why this week is going to be all about bringing mindfulness into your life without it being an extra something to do.
Are you ready to start incorporating mindfulness into everyday activities and bring more mindfulness into your life?
Today ask yourself “what has my biggest struggle with mindfulness been?”
Throughout the day, there are many thoughts that run through one’s mind at any given time, often unrelated to what we are actually doing. Stress and anxiety is often caused by focusing on regret from the past or worry about the future. Our thoughts are consumed with thinking about all the things we have to do or about something coming up in the future. There can also be a lot of time spent feeling upset about how something played out or being ashamed of how one acted. Giving in to these thoughts can keep you from enjoying life and get in the way of doing all the things you need to.
That is where mindfulness comes in. Learning to be in the present helps bring more calm by getting out of that line of thinking. We can’t change the past or control the future, by ruminating on these things, it just creates unnecessary stress and anxiety with no productive value. Mindfulness is a muscle to be built; it takes effort and practice. However, it does not have to be stressful and difficult to find time for.
You can do that anywhere, anytime and here’s how. To be mindful, you are observing and describing your experience through your senses. Pay attention to what you are seeing, hearing, physically feeling, smelling, and tasting. Put words to it.
Let’s wrap up with this little exercise.
Take a hershey’s kiss, or imagine you have one if you do not have it on hand. Take the kiss in your hand and focus on how the tin foil feels in your hand. Feel, the white tag at the top and notice what that is like. Do you sense any smell at this point? Slowly, start opening the kiss. Pay attention to how it feels as you unwrap the tin foil, notice when the aroma of the chocolate starts to fill your nostrils. Note if you hear any crinkle of the foil. Take a bite of the chocolate. Focus on and describe what you taste and feel as you chew and swallow. Notice the lingering aroma. Take another bite and do the same. You can essentially do this with any activity- eating, chores, taking a shower, walking, watching t.v., and the list goes on. Working on mindfulness does not have to be an added stress you have to find time for. Choose any activity you are already doing and keep observing and describing your sensory experience, following the guidelines from the hershey’s kiss example. Take a minute and choose one activity you do daily that you want to start doing mindfully.
In closing, this week we learned how start incorporating mindfulness into everyday activities.
We talked about how to build mindfulness into our already set routine so it does not need to be something extra to squeeze in. What would you like to see happen by incorporating mindfulness into everyday activities ? Get clear on what your mindfulness goal is for the week and how that will make a practical impact on your day to day life.
And If you’d like some more support around this topic shoot me an email over at alyssa.mairanz@gmail.com and I will be in touch with next steps.
Alyssa Mairanz, LMHC, DBTC
Alyssa Mairanz provides counseling and therapy services for life transitions, relationship issues, self esteem, depression, anxiety, and DBT and Psychodynamic therapy in a NYC group practice in the Flatiron District near Madison Square Park. She also serves the Village, Chelsea, Union Square, the Financial District and the surrounding areas.
Empower Your Mind Therapy’s mission is to helps our clients build the life they want and find more happiness and satisfaction.
