My Three Favorite Mindfulness Tips

Mindfulness is a practice that I try to incorporate into my life as well as recommend to many of my clients. Often, when people think of mindfulness, they think of meditation. And while meditation is an incredibly helpful tool, it is not the only way we can incorporate mindfulness into our life.

Mindfulness is practicing the ability to be fully present with what we are doing and experiencing at any given moment. The capacity for this practice is something that we all possess and using this skill regularly can increase our ability to be present and grounded in our daily lives, regulate our emotions, and tolerate distress. Mindfulness can help to acknowledge thoughts and feelings in a healthy way while changing behaviors that might be causing us harm.

Here I’ve outlined some of my favorite mindfulness tips and tricks.

1. Establishing Anchors

If you begin to feel overwhelmed, you might consider using a mindfulness anchor – something that helps you to ground, tolerate distress, and that brings you back to the present moment. 

Some examples of anchors can be:

• Turning your focus to your breath, and allowing your full attention to be on the breath as it goes in and out. Each time you become distracted, gently guide your attention back to your breath.

• Focusing on objects in your environment that provide a sense of comfort, and pleasantness, and restore alertness in the present moment. It can be helpful to preselect these items during times of calmness and to call on them during times of distress and overwhelm.

• Checking in with your senses; focusing on things you can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. 

2. Turning Everyday Activities into an Opportunity for Mindfulness

You do not need to set aside hours of your day to practice mindfulness. You can incorporate mindfulness without making any major changes to your daily routine. Throughout our day, it might feel helpful for us to juggle several things at once or get more done in a shorter duration of time however, focusing on multiple things at once isn’t always healthy or effective.

Some ways that we can practice mindfulness during everyday activities might include:

• Mindful showering – Showering can be a time when we can step away from the rush of activity and thought. Take this time to slow down and tune into your senses. Being present with the sensation of the water on your skin, the smell of the soap, the sounds of water dripping. If the mind begins to wander to things you need to do that day, thoughts about something you’re stressed about, simply guide your attention back to the senses, back to one mindfully focusing on the task at hand.

• Mindful cooking or eating – Reminding yourself to be present in the moment each time you prepare meals or eat can be a great way to insert mindfulness during an everyday task. Tune into the exact activity that you are doing and let the awareness of the activity sink in. You can pay attention to how you are feeling in the moment as well as engage the five senses.

• Mindful walks – Whether it’s a long hike outside, walking the dog, or a short walk to the other room; each step can be an opportunity for mindfulness. You can pay attention to how your feet feel as they touch the ground, your arms as they swing, or the wind on your face. Take notice of what you are feeling and noticing at the moment. This can be an opportunity to take us off of “auto-pilot” and to increase presence and alertness in an everyday task.

3. Trying Not to Attach Meaning to our Thoughts or Experiences

Our mind is constantly creating meaning out of what we are taking in through our senses. The mind attaches meaning to the information we are taking in and develops thoughts and beliefs that then influence how we feel and behave. 

• Being mindful of our thoughts can include observing unwanted thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations without judging, attaching meaning to, or trying to change them. Mindfulness can allow us to view our thoughts without becoming our thoughts.
  

• Allow yourself to notice thoughts that come into your mind and accept them as they are in this moment. 
  

• Practice focusing on facts rather than the stories we tell ourselves about our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. 

Suppose we learn to observe rather than judge or strive for a specific outcome. In that case, we can develop a greater tolerance for distress, an increased capacity to let things be, and a deeper understanding of how attaching meaning to our thoughts and emotions can create distress or difficulty.  

Mindfulness is a practice, therefore focusing on the journey as opposed to an outcome can be helpful here. You can begin applying some of these tips wherever you are on that journey. Start small and slowly begin to increase your practice. Remember, mindfulness can be applied to almost anything, if we focus our attention on the present moment and what is going on both inside and outside of ourselves.