8 Ways to Cultivate Mindfulness

  1. Begin with awareness-take an observational stance about your everyday experience by being open and curious about what is happening within you, around you and in your mind.
  2. Practice pause-choosing a moment in the day to just stop and be with whatever is happening, it could be the cars passing by, feeling the wind on your face, or noticing that you feel hungry.
  3. Slow things down- move your mind from an active state into a waiting or watching state.
  4. Focus on the present- check out your breath, and now your heartbeat. Scan your environment. Tap into your senses. Make note of what exists right now.
  5. Notice your emotional state- instead of being reactive, try becoming more curious. What is this emotion. Is it anger? Drop the name of it and explore the nuance of what it feels like. Send your breath there and notice if anything changes. If you feel impatient or want to change the feeling be with the impatience, drop the name of this experience and stay curious about the sensation. As our emotions occur, we can either choose to keep them locked in a pattern or cycle or we can let them run their course.
  6. Watch your judgement- If you can resist buying into the judgments that come up in your mind and just watch them, and then redirect your mind back to just observing without attachment to outcome, or to negative loops, then you can directly impact the way you experience your stressors.
  7. Let go- let go of needing things to be a certain way, find a place to surrender. This can mean taking a small disappointment and facing it head on. Things didn’t turn out how you would like, you may feel hurt, rejected, let down. Honor what the feeling is that arises and choose to redirect your attention to how you can tend to yourself, find another person to help you with your want need or interest, or let go of the thing you were expecting.
  8. Chose being over doing- whenever you feel the impulse to do more, or you feel overwhelmed see if you can just take a moment to be, to exist, to feel into your bodily experience. What would it be like if you were to just be, in this moment?

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