To Do: Be Mindful. Live in the Moment.
Be here now.
Mindfulness is to be completely immersed in the now and notice, on purpose, everything that is going on inside and around you. Practicing mindfulness gives us a break from thoughts of the past that may cause sadness or longing, or thoughts of the future that may bring feelings of anxiety. If we are not thinking of the past or the future, we may be mindlessly operating on auto-pilot.
Mindfulness allows our mind, body and energy to benefit from experiencing the fullness of right now with all of our senses. No thoughts of what should or should not be, just a complete and total awareness of what is. Mindfulness helps to increase our ability to regulate our emotions, decrease stress, improve sleep, lower blood pressure, and improve overall mental health. It also gives us insight to automatic thoughts, triggers, and patterns.
The amazing thing is that we can do anything mindfully by practicing 6 skills. According to Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) the core mindfulness skills are;
Observing with all our senses what is going on inside and outside of us. What am I thinking or feeling? What is happening around me? For example, if you are washing dishes, how does the water feel? What does the dish soap smell like? What do the bubbles in the sink look like? What do the dishes sound like clinking around in the sink? How do I feel about doing the dishes?
Describe the experience while you are observing? “This dish soap smells like oranges.” “The bubbles are small and sudsy.” “I feel relaxed doing dishes.”
Participate fully in the experience. If you are going for a walk, strive to be completely present with all your attention and senses. Don’t get distracted by your phone.
Non-judgmental stance means to not label anything as good, bad, right or wrong. Instead of saying, “I feel terrible” try to label the feelings without judgement. An example could be “I notice that I feel tension in my body and my breathing is fast and shallow.” Using what is called a “beginner’s mind” helps with non-judgement. Sometimes we go into situation with preconceived notions of what we will experience. The beginner’s mind allows us to enter the experience with fresh eyes, as if experiencing it for the first time and let it unfold as it will.
One-mindful means to do one things at a time. When striving to practice mindfulness, that is not the time to multitask. Focus on doing one thing and immersing yourself completely into that experience.
Effectiveness simply means doing what works. Learning to trust yourself is an important part of any mindfulness practice. Be willing to give things a chance and moving on if it’s not working or making you feel worse in the moment.
Life is happening in the right now, moment to moment. Don’t let yesterday or tomorrow steal the beauty of right now.