For many of us life is busy with many priorities calling out for our attention and care, the prospect of finding time to carve out dedicated time to practice mindfulness for any length of time, can seem very hard to do. It may not just seem hard to do, it may, let's face it can be impossible on some days. It is important to remember that any moment where you bring your awareness to your own experience with the mindful attitudes of compassion, non judgement, acceptance, non striving, or letting go, is a moment of mindfulness.
Whilst longer practices will allow you to cultivate and be able to access mindfulness more readily in your life , even brief moments of mindfulness can be very supportive to you, try some of these every day moments of mindfulness and see how they work for you.
Pick an every day activity - showering, brushing your teeth, tying your shoe laces, and bring all your attention to this - become aware of the physical sensations that may arise, noticing the tendency of your mind to want to think about the day ahead or replaying yesterday, and gently just bring your attention back to task that you have chosen.
Mindful Walking or Movement : Take some time to really bring your awareness to a brief walk between two points ( if you are working in an office perhaps when you move from your desk to a meeting room, or even if you are doing the shopping ) become really aware of how you move form one to another, how that impacts the other parts of your body. Alternatively perhaps bring your attention to your body as it moves from one position to another.
Three minute breathing space : at any point during your day take a moment to bring your awareness to yourself, taking the time to observe what kind of internal weather are you experiencing in that moment, then taking a moment to bring your attention to the breath and then the body. Use this time to reconnect with yourself and discover what is your present direct experience in that moment.
As with many things in life when we start to learn something our desire to be perfect can sometimes get in the way of us doing anything. A moment of mindfulness where you get to feel how to intentionally connect with your own experience can be really valuable, particularly as you start to learn about your own mindfulness.
For more information on every day mindfulness feel free to join one of my classes or check out some of the online resources at Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland and I will put some guided meditations on the website shortly.
May you be well, may you be happy, may you live with ease.
Thanks for reading
Jen
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