How can I become more mindful?

How can I become more mindful?

Pause.

Take a look around.

What do you see?

What do you hear?

What do you smell?

What do you feel?

Without holding back, without trying to impress anyone or noticing a set amount of things; what is going on?

Be observant but objective and just notice things for what they are. That is essentially mindfulness.

There is no need for judgement and no need for any action.

The big thing that stops people from becoming mindful is exactly that action.

Most think that they must act on what they observe.

They must appreciate the sunshine, must judge the person in front of them, must enjoy the feeling of the wind brushing against their face, must deal with anything negative comes up and must act on the good things happening around them.

If you want to become more mindful, you simply take what you experience and accept it for what it is, without any added actions, thoughts or judgements.

You can do this consciously when you are alone, do it when you are talking to friends, or even when you wash the dishes.

Mindfulness, like that, can be applied anytime anywhere.

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There is a second level to mindfulness that can also help you become more mindful that goes above and beyond the simply act of noticing and accepting what you experience.

The second level involves a deeper understanding of the idea that you do not have to act.

It’s based on a more “primal” belief that you are okay, and that, in the end, things will work out; or involves the ability to see a bigger picture.

What that means is being observant enough in the moment to understand the point of the experience without getting sucked into all the details.

For instance, imagine you are out with friends for dinner.

You are having a great time for the first part of the dinner, but the food takes a little longer than it should.

You are hungry and have been looking forward to this all day.

When your meal finally arrives you are starving.

You eat the first bite of the meal and disappointment rushes up from the core of your heart; The food is disgusting.

In most cases, this would at least partially affect the dinner if not ruin it entirely.

A mindful person will not deny their emotions should this happen, but will also keep the point of the dinner in mind: Having a good time with their friends.

In light of that they may choose to accept their emotions quicker without many negative actions, in order to keep the bigger picture in the forefront.

This is also mindfulness.

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To recap then, mindfulness can be trained by observing the experience around you without any added judgements or need for action and by keeping the bigger picture in mind during times of surprise or stress.

The simplest way to practice this is by following the following steps:

1. Set an alarm for random times throughout the day (the more the better but it should be at least 3).
2. Title the Alarm “What am I experiencing?”
3. When the alarm rings stop whatever you are doing for 1 minute. If you cannot drop it then and there, find a quiet place as soon as possible or excuse yourself.
4. During that 1 minute you simply name the things happening around you. This is everything that you sense. Meaning everything you feel, see, hear, smell and taste.
5. Rinse and Repeat steps 1–4 as often as possible. If you want to increase the rate at which you become mindful then you want to increase the number of alarms and do this randomly whenever you remember it throughout the day.