6 Ways to Incorporate Mindfulness into Your Day

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What is Mindfulness?

The practice of mindfulness is not just for monks and spiritual people. Actually many people incorporate mindfulness into their daily routines. It’s a mental technique that can be incorporated into anyone’s daily life to improve their health, relationships, and work.

Mindfulness is the ability to live fully in the present moment and to be aware of one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them. It also involves being non-reactive and overwhelmed with our thoughts and feelings.

Sometimes we go through life on auto-pilot because our schedules are packed and life can be chaotic.

But, when you take time to slow down and be more mindful you become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and surroundings.

How You Can Incorporate Mindfulness into Your Daily Routine

Many people have the misconception that the only time you practice mindfulness is when you meditate but this is simply not true.

Mindfulness can be practiced at any and every moment of the day.

There are many ways to incorporate mindfulness into your day.

Here is a list of a few ways you can be more mindful in your daily routines.

1) Mindful Breathing

Take a few minutes each day to focus on your breathing as you inhale and exhale deeply.

Practicing mindful breathing has so many benefits like reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, managing chronic pain, reducing anxiety, and calming nerves.

To practice mindful breathing you can do this by sitting up, standing, or lying down. A simple technique you can use is to close your eyes and focus solely on your breath and let out a big exhale and just let everything go.

In the book The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hahn wrote: 

“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.”

Thich nhat hahn

2) Mindful Eating

Many people spend their time eating meals without thinking about it. We eat while scrolling mindlessly on our phones, watching TV, or scarfing down bites while we work on our laptops. But, food is nourishment and should be savored. 

To practice mindful eating is to fully focus on the food you are eating, be aware of what you are eating, the smell of the food, the textures, the taste of the food, and how it makes you feel. Chew the food mindfully about 15-30 times and savor every bite.

Mindful eating is a skill that can be learned and practiced in order to improve your relationship with food. It’s a way of being that helps people develop a better understanding of themselves and their bodies.

3) Mindful Wake-Up

Before reaching for your phone when you wake up or even think about all the stuff you have to do for the day, start your day with a smile, take 3 deep nourishing breaths, and think about or write 3-5 things you are grateful for after that set your intention for the day.

Being fully present and mindful is a great way to start your day.

4) Mindful Driving

Driving can sometimes be stressful with lots of traffic and crazy drivers causing you to get stressed out, bring on anxiety, and lose your patience. But, driving is an excellent time to practice mindfulness so you can restore balance within yourself.

Take deep breaths and tell yourself, “I am at ease and I am safe”.

While driving really take in the surroundings around you and be fully aware of the other cars, roads, and just everything within your vision. Drive more consciously.

5) Mindful Listening

Mindful listening is about listening to others, music, or any sounds and being present, focused, and aware of the sounds or the person talking.

So often our minds wander when listening to other people talk, so here are some mindful listening tips:

– Take your time when you listen

– Ask questions for clarification

– Let the person know that you are listening by nodding or making eye contact

– If you find your thoughts wandering like thinking about what you going to eat for dinner, take a gentle breath and bring yourself back to the conversation.

6) Mindful Movement

Mindful movement is the practice of moving with intention and awareness.

It can be as simple as walking or as complex as yoga.

The idea behind mindful movement is to move the body with a sense of purpose and intention. Being fully aware of your movement and how your body feels.

Final Thoughts

As you can see mindfulness can be incorporated into your day in many different ways like taking a few moments to pause before you start talking with someone or while you are eating. 

How can you incorporate more mindfulness into your day? 

In which areas of your life do you want to practice more mindfulness?

Take time to fully reflect and become more aware of what you need. 

When you practice mindfulness throughout your day you will find more awareness, joy, calmness, gratitude, and peace.

To end this post, I will leave you with another amazing quote from the “father of mindfulness” and again from his book, The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hahn wrote:

“Whatever the tasks, do them slowly and with ease, in mindfulness. Don’t do any task in order to get it over with. Resolve to do each job in a relaxed way, with all your attention. Enjoy and be one with your work. Without this, the day of mindfulness will be of no value at all. The feeling that any task is a nuisance will soon disappear if it is done in mindfulness.”

Thich Nhat Hahn