Mindfulness

Try to build awareness by:

• Focusing your attention

• Identifying what you are feeling

• Being curious about yourself

• Trying to stay with what you are feeling.

Try to be more open by:

• Letting yourself feel everything, no matter what

• Not pushing away unpleasant emotions too quickly

• Not holding on to negative feelings.

Try to be more accepting by:

• Accepting both positive and negative feelings

• Avoiding judgment or censoring thoughts

• Being more compassionate with yourself.

Try to be present by:

• Stay in the present moment and focus on what you are currently doing

• Pay attention without judgment.

ACTIVITIES:

60-second mindfulness examples:

Try any of these 60-second mindfulness activities several times throughout the day:

• Mindful breathing: Try to pay attention to what one breath feels like – feel the sensations of one breath flowing into and out from your body and notice the sensations in your nostrils, your shoulders, your rib cage, your belly etc.

• Mindful brain breaks: Use mindfulness to give your brain a break rather than filling up every tiny space in your day by automatically reaching to check your smartphone – instead, spend a few seconds looking outside the window, at things such as the leaves fluttering on the trees

• Mindful eating: For the first two bites of any meal or snack you eat, pay attention to the sensory experiences – the texture, taste, smell and appearance of the food, as well as the sounds when you bite into it – in an experiential rather than evaluative way

• Mindful actions: Pick an action you do at the same time every day and plan to do that action mindfully – for example, the moment you wake up or when you go to bed

• Mindful sensation: Pay attention to the feeling of air on your skin – this is best done when wearing short sleeves or with some skin exposed.

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing on the present moment without evaluation or judgement. Mindfulness may initially feel overwhelming as you are not used to being present in your body.

Although anyone can try it, being mindful isn’t always easy to do. But with practice, it encourages your mind to experience your existence in a curious, open, honest, and accepting way – allowing you to just ‘be’.

FURTHER ACTIVITIES:

Moving from autopilot to mindfulness If you’re feeling ready, rest your attention on all you see. You can hold your head still or gently move it to look around. Take the world in with your eyes.

At first, you’ll notice obvious things, like the trees, colour of the sky or the birdsong. Soon you’ll begin to notice details you didn’t really see before, like shapes, colours and movements. Now do the same with your hearing. You can close your eyes if you’re in a safe place. Take in all that you hear. With your eyes opened or closed, move to what your body feels. It might be the sensation of air on your skin, your breath coming in and going out, your heartbeat, where there might be tension or pain.

Relax into the sensations of your body and make sure not to tighten secondary muscles around the point of pain. Try to accept any discomfort without thinking stressful thoughts about how long it may last or what it might mean. Now, open your eyes if they’ve been closed and – for 20 breaths – take it all in: sights, sounds, bodily sensations, any tastes in your mouth or scents and smells in your nose, any thoughts or emotions arising in the mind.

Remember to notice without judging – to let thoughts, feelings and sensations ebb and flow into conscious awareness. This will allow you to be fully present with all your experiences and you will have moved from autopilot to mindfulness. Staying in the present

To help you to stay present try to notice three things in your daily life that you normally pay little attention to. These can be things you can hear, see, smell, or feel such as the colour of the sky or the rustling of leaves, the sun, rain or wind on your skin, the smell of flowers, or sound of birdsong or laughter. Becoming aware of and appreciating these sensory experiences daily allows you to fully experience your environment, create positive new memories and feel truly alive in the present. Practice one of the following sensory activities at various points during the day to help you connect with the present.

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