Mindfulness is a tricky thing. We are so easily lost in our thoughts and emotions. The period I am mindful during the day is approximately 1 hour. Not a lot I agree, but I was able to identify a few things that promote the practice. So here they are: a compilation of my best mindfulness exercises:

1) Go out for a walk.

When I go for a walk, I seem to naturally shift into mindfulness. This practice enforces the mindfulness during the day as with any skill, the more you practice it, the better it gets. Also, I red more than once the comparison to a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.

Well, The same goes for mindfulness.

2) Meditation

Mindfulness is meditation in action. It is the continual watching of our emotions and thoughts during every aspect of our lives. Thus meditation is mindfulness practiced in a calm and safe environment. Therefore, the analogy of the muscle is also applicable :-).

But the reverse also holds: the more you practice mindfulness, the easier the meditation becomes. I have noticed that these two seem to go hand in hand an are enforcing each other.

3) Anchor yourself on you breathing.

This one is a specific tool that is very handy as the breath is alway present and changing. A dynamic object of concentration seems to be easier for our runaway minds to hold on too. I guess this is exactly due to our inability to hold the mind at rest (for the time being).

4) Do not multi-task

Multi tasking is deadly for mindfulness. If you are serious about getting mindful you better start doing one thing at the time. I know how hard it is as I am a serious multi-tasker and it is hard to get rid of the habit. Jotting down you ideas on a piece of paper for later review seems to help a lot. In this way, the interruption from the task at hand is very short and we can go back to the task at hand. But I agree I’m still learning to master this skill (see my post on ZTD)

5) Use the MotivAider

It is a long time since I reported on my use of the MotivAider, but I find that it helps me in my never ending endeavors to be mindful during the day. There is a lot of tweaking to do to make it a useful tool, and sometimes it is just an annoyance, but it really helps. But if you are to learn one of the most difficult skills in the world, some difficulties will naturally arise.

I hope these tips will aid you. If you have some great ways to enhance or cultivate your practice of mindfulness, please shre them in the comments. I am more than happy to have additional resources to fall back on in times of great stress.

Be well. Be rich. Be great.

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