Mindfulness is a funny word. It may bring to mind the memory of your mother or father telling you to ‘be mindful’ of your sibling’s feelings. What they really meant was to be thoughtful of your actions. Yet, mindfulness does not focus on action, doing, planning, or contemplating. Mindfulness is all about simply being.  When you practice mindfulness, you are practicing being fully present in whichever moment or situation you may find yourself. If you are feeling pain, you recognize the pain in a nonjudgemental way. If you are feeling glee, you accept and appreciate the glee as something that is found in that very moment. Mindfulness is not about taking away any pain you might be experiencing or making you ecstatic about every day. Mindfulness is about peace. It’s about slowing down, focusing solely on the present moment, and accepting it for what it is. You may be surprised to find how much beauty in your everyday life awakens to you when mindfulness becomes your way of life.

When you notice the beauty that surrounds you, you may become filled with gratitude. This is one of the most wonderful blessings of living a mindful life. Gratitude may come from mindfulness but it is not the only outcome. You may find that you are becoming more resilient, better able to not let your pain define you, finding yourself naturally empathizing with others, and becoming more patient. Let’s learn about 5 ways that you can practice mindfulness in order to welcome a greater sense of peace into your life, and ultimately, foster a deeper sense of gratitude.

1) Incorporate Meditation, Yoga, or Prayer into Your Daily Life

One great way to begin your mindfulness journey is to either start or deepen a mindfulness-based practice. For instance, you can take part in meditation, yoga, prayer, prayer-based singing, or any other practice where you can be fully present and open. Many people may find it difficult to begin a daily meditation practice. Their minds may be buzzing with thoughts and they may find it unnatural to sit still when there are errands to run and people to get back to. Because formal meditation might be new and daunting, we recommend starting with a simple 10 minute guided daily meditation that you can find prerecorded on the Sukhi website.

Guided meditations are especially useful because they introduce mindfulness concepts that you can apply in your everyday life. Essentially, guided meditation provides us with a basis for how to be fully present, which we can draw upon even after our meditation session ends. It’ll start your day off with a calm, yet energized feeling.

2) Do One Activity a Day that allows you to be Mindful of Touch

Of the five senses, touch is one of the senses that best centers us into being present. Examples of using touch to practice mindfulness include your partner massaging your foot or scratching your back, petting your dog or cat for an extended period of time, or doing a craft that involves textures, such as knitting or woodworking.

You can also incorporate touch-based mindfulness through everyday actions that include water and temperature variations. Take note of the sensation of the water pressure and how the warmth feels when you wash your hands, do the dishes, or take a shower. You can even incorporate meditation-style breathing as you become fully present to the sensation of the shower water. As you can see, this is not always something you have set much time aside to do. Just spend a few extra minutes in your warm shower water to breathe, feel the water, and feel motivated, calm, and in the best mindset.

3) Do One Activity a Day that allows you to be Creative

You may notice how quickly the time passes when you are fully immersed in doing something you enjoy. However, you only notice that the time has passed once you have finished your favorite pastime and check the clock. This is because when we are fully present in an activity that engages us completely, we do not think about how much time is passing. For instance, when we are singing, we are immersed in the beauty of the note. And when we are painting a wooden birdhouse, we marvel at the feeling of the soft bristles on the hard surface and how we can create something so beautiful out of something so plain.

It is not important which activity you choose. However, picking one creative activity where you can be mindful helps put your mindfulness work to practice in a fun way!

4) Devote a Section of Your Day to being Mindful in Nature 

Fortunately, many people spend time outside exercising. Running and other high-intensity outdoor workouts are certainly great for your health. However, with these activities, you are often so focused on the exercise that you may not take active notice of your environment. You might miss the laughter coming from a wagon-full of kids or the sight of a wagging golden retriever coming your way. 

If you suspect you may be missing out on truly appreciating the outdoors, devote time each day to being still, mindful, and present in nature. There is something so special about tending to your garden in the early morning when dewdrops decorate the delicate petals or when you take an evening stroll with a loved one and you fully take in the beauty that surrounds you. You may discover a hidden world of beautiful stillness that unfolds when you make an effort to just be in nature.

5) Practice gratitude daily

Through taking part in these daily mindful activities, you may find that you are noticing many more small blessings in your life.  Mindfulness helps you be fully present to the things that bring you joy. One way to practice gratitude for these blessings is to carve out a time each day, such as just before bed, to quite literally, ‘count your blessings.’ You could approach expressing gratitude in a number of ways. For instance, you could share what you are grateful for with your loved ones. Or, you could meditate or pray to express your gratitude. You could also write in a daily gratitude journal. No matter how you choose to express gratitude, mindfulness enables you to live your life more fully, which is certainly something to be grateful for!

At the Sukhi Project, we hope that these 5 ways to live mindfully can help create greater peace in your life and enable you to be more present with your loved ones. Get better sleep, feel great, and create a purpose to get up each and every day.

Check out this article:  https://inlpcenter.org/mindfulness-techniques/ to read about Three Mindfulness Techniques You Can Use Right Now!

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