Mindfulness
15 Effective Ways to Practice Mindfulness Everyday
Mindfulness is a kind of meditation which helps us to observe what is happening in the present moment. Here are my self tested ways to practice mindfulness to keep yourself mentally healthy and stay focused on the positive.
If you’re here, I’m guessing you’re looking for mindfulness practices to increase your daily productivity.
And I’m here for you.
I have spent so many years waiting for the right time to do everything. I was struggling between my full-time job, my passion, and of course my personal life.
I told myself every time I will do this, I will do that when I will get more time. I listened to so many ted talks and read books about mindfulness but all the time I procrastinated the things I wanted to do.
After a long time, I realized that the right time will never come, you have only NOW moment in your hand. You have to take the time to achieve those goals.
Since then I’ve made it my mission to learn everything which will help me to be more mindful, and then to share that knowledge with my community.
In this article, you’ll find a list of my all-time favorite mindfulness practices, a few of my favorite productivity tips that have changed my life. I hope you will find it useful for yourself as well.
These are some mindfulness exercises, which I use every day to manage my life and to stay productive through even the most hectic day!
You need not follow all the exercises every day, I suggest you start small by including two to three of these activities. Then add more as you become comfortable with the mindfulness practice.
Let’s get to it…
#1. Wake up at the same time every day
Like you do have an alarm on your phones, our body also has an alarm and you have an opportunity to set your body alarm with a little mindfulness.
How?
When your alarm rang, the first thing we do is to snooze it for another 10 minutes and so on. In my case, I used to set 3-4 alarms so that I could get more time to sleep. I always wanted to be a morning person to wake at 5 o’clock but my laziness didn’t allow me.
It was hard to practice, but I have read somewhere, you have two choices either to do what you want to do or regret what you didn’t do. So I chose the first one. Make my habit to wake up a little early and at the same time every day.
Choosing to awaken a little earlier in the morning not only allows you to begin your day with mindfulness but also extends the amount of time you have to enjoy life.
Give it a try for a week or so. You may be surprised at how much more you enjoy your mornings with just a few extra minutes.
#2. Awaken with gratitude
When you wake a little early, you automatically feel good about yourself and for others. When you start your day with such feeling, you focus on the positive side of your day rather than focusing on frustration, fatigue, or on hurrying to run office on time.
You can begin your day with gratitude towards God, your body, your surroundings. The key to making this habit effective is not the number of things you feel grateful for or even the amount of time you spend in gratitude, but rather the intensity of focus and feeling you have around the effort.
A mindful gratitude practice means immersing yourself in the emotion so that you feel deeply and profoundly blessed.
Related:
How to start a gratitude journal
#3. Drink water sitting down
Drinking 6-7 glasses of water every day has numerous health benefits as it keeps you hydrated, clear toxins from your body, improve digestion, and so on. We all know that.
What’s new?
We all have the habit of getting home and drinking water right away, often standing. Since we all believe that there is nothing wrong that water can do, we don’t give it a thought of how we are having it.
When you have water standing up, you don’t get the required nutrition and it flushes out from your body without giving you any health benefit.
Opposite to that when you drink your water sitting down, the water passes through the regular designed track and ensures all the benefits are achieved in the organs.
It clear impurities from your body, aid better digestion, and ensures that you don’t feel bloated after having water.
#4. Practice deep breathing
Do you pay much attention to your breathing? While reading this post, let’s do a quick test. Stop for a moment, set a 1-minute alarm on your phone and close your eyes. Now place your right hand on your stomach and left hand on your chest. Start counting your normal breathing in one minute.
How many of you have more than 20 breathes in just one minute?
It’s time to slow down. You need to practice deep breathing every day for at least 10 minutes. Increase your time as per your convenience. But don’t take the stress to it, just enjoy this practice and you will see the difference.
Don’t say that you don’t have time to breathe.
Practicing mindful, focused breathing, even for ten minutes a day reduces stress and promotes relaxation.
Related:
Top 5 breathing exercises to rejuvenate your morning
#5. Make Your bed mindfully
Do you make your bed every morning? It may seem like a waste of time on a rushed morning, but there are many great reasons to adopt this simple habit.
Making your bed is considered a “keystone” habit. Making your bed in the morning is like a moving meditation and gives us a sense of well-being.
#6. Smile in the mirror
Does that seem strange?
Smile is the most powerful medicine generally we give to others. It is not bad at all. But if it is so powerful then why don’t we can give it to ourselves. Let’s start from today.
Stand in front of your mirror and smile at yourself. Appreciate your beautiful smile, how you look beautiful with a smiling face. It gives you an opportunity to love yourself every day.
Smiling releases endorphins that counteract and diminish stress hormones. It also has been shown to increase productivity.
At first, it was strange to me too. But when I read the book ‘You can heal your life’ by Louise Hay where she mentioned the benefits of smiling at yourself, I gave it a try and now I love this practice.
Try it once, and believe me you will fall in love with yourself.
#7. Write in a journal
When I first heard the term journal writing, I search it on google, scroll on Pinterest to get creative journal ideas. But all these things proved to be a waste of time. Then I decide to make my journal in my own way. I put all my feelings on paper, and it is journal writing for me.
A journal doesn’t need a specific topic such as writing your thoughts and self-reflection, you can write anything you want to write. Your emotions, your life goals, your creative ideas, your to-do list, skills you want to learn, and so on. Writing on paper keep your thoughts organized, inspire you to be creative, relieve stress, and boost your memory.
To start this exercise, you just need a notebook and a pen or you can buy an organized journal planner.
So let’s start today.
#8. Read inspirational content
We usually start and end our days with information that news channels or web are giving us. It is not bad at all to be updated with the outer world. Like we feed good food to our bodies to be healthy, we need to feed our brains with some healthy content.
Choose to read uplifting, inspiring, and positive books, motivational quotes or articles after waking up and before going to bed.
For some people, it may be impossible to stay away from worldly news and this mindful practice may be a big challenge for them. But nothing is impossible as “Impossible itself says I m possible.“
#9. Eating mindfully
What does it mean by eating mindfully? Does it mean eating less or eating a healthy diet?
In this age of Google, everyone is aware of words like protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, a balanced diet, etc, etc.
I am here not giving you another diet plan or fancy food items to be eaten every day.
Mindful eating involves not just what you eat but how you eat it. Mindful eating habit is all about eating your food as you love it, enjoy every bite you take inside, and feel its real taste.
To make it happen you have to practice two things 1. chew your food properly 2. enjoy your food without any distraction (TV, mobile, newspaper, etc.).
Those who are looking for weight loss solutions, then chewing your food 32 times, will help you to achieve your ideal weight.
Related:
#10. Give 10 minutes to your body
“I don’t have time.“
This is one of the most common excuses to escape from physical movement. Those who do any type of workout daily, know the real benefits of it.
I can tell you hundreds of benefits of doing exercise. But I won’t because you all know that.
It is time to get those benefits rather than reading or listening to others. Treat your body like a garden.
I am not saying that you have to go to the gym or join some expensive classes. You can do any type of physical movement like skipping the rope, climbing the stairs, walking or running, dancing, etc.
You can start with 10 minutes daily. I am sure you will increase your exercise time on your own.
#11. Manage your work travel time
How many of you get irritated with the traffic on your way to work?
I guess we all (including me).
According to a study, 80% of the people who travel daily to work are more stressed. Earlier I also fell into the same category but I start managing my daily travel time more mindfully.
I always carry a book with me to read. If you are not a regular reader, you can listen to some motivational podcast or an audiobook.
The choice is yours, how you want to feel after reaching your workplace.
#12. Stand up or walk after every 60 minutes
Whether you a working person or not, sitting can cause you to gain extra pounds. Make a habit to take a quick break from your chair and walk a little. Mindfulness helps you to make it a habit.
How I did practice it?
I took water in a glass at my desk rather than a full bottle. After an hour, I walk to fill it again. You can set an alarm or app reminder.
#13. Mindfully review your day
Now you have your journal with you. So why not start writing your progress each day? After reading this article, I can hope that you will adopt at least 2-3 mindfulness exercises in your daily routine.
Before going to bed, review your whole day, what you learned, what were the obstacles, how can I do things in a better way, etc. This is the time to do self-analysis. You can also share your learning or analysis with your partner, it may inspire them to do the same.
#14. Plan for tomorrow
Planning the next day on the night before not only saves you time in the morning, but it also gives you the opportunity to use what you just learned from the daily review.
You may be tempted to skip this habit because you want to relax in the evening, but taking just ten minutes to think about your goals and plans for tomorrow will make your life calmer, simpler, and more streamlined.
This mindfulness habit helps you to focus on what’s most important rather than reacting to whatever comes your way.
#15. Practice to say Thank You
In this practice, you don’t have to give anything to say thank you. Just say it to them who have done something for you. Like you can say thank you to your mother to cook for you, your partner, your driver, your colleagues, your juniors or seniors, anyone who helped you in any way.
Earlier it was not in my behavior, but I practiced it a lot. Now it has become by nature to say THANK YOU to everyone even non-living things (I know its too much).
But believe me, when you say these two magic words to someone, it not only make them happy but also it also boost our mood when we see someone happy.
So Thank You to everyone for completing these mindfulness exercises.
Now it is your turn.
Are you ready?