3 easy steps to mindfulness to improve your daily life

In today’s day and age, we are constantly bombarded by different noises from all sides. Noises from bumper to bumper traffic. Maybe noises from kids screaming at each other. It can be noises from gadgets that won’t stop beeping. It is enough to increase our stress and anxiety level quickly. In this post, we will discuss three easy steps to mindfulness that will help to improve your daily life. Mindfulness has been gaining a lot of attention on social media in the last couple of years because of its benefits. It helps with clearing your head when you’re starting to get stressed about something. It helps with self awareness and relaxation, and improves sleeping at night. By doing a couple of minutes each day, you’ll reap the rewards of mindfulness.

Focus on the present

It sounds like it’s a simple task but you’d be surprised how many people get distracted a minute into it. Our minds wander and think about what dinner you’ll have, or that TV show you forgot to record. It takes time and practice but eventually you’ll get there. Try to live in the moment, to enjoy what you’re doing without having to snap it on your phone. Focus on the task at hand or the activity in front of you for a couple of minutes. Later you’ll discover that you can do it for longer and longer.

Do a quick meditation

There is a misconception that you need an hour or so to meditate and that you have to be in a specific position to do this. This isn’t true. If you’re in the office, in your car (not driving), on the train or at home, you can half a quick five minute meditation to find your centre again despite the chaos of your day. Just stay where you are (as long as you’re safe and not driving or operating machinery), close your eyes, take a deep breath and clear your mind. Expect your mind to wander, but that’s totally normal. Just keep clearing it again and do this for a couple of minutes. It’s a good practice to do each day for your mental health.

Use an app

If you’re having trouble practising mindfulness without guidance, there are plenty of apps out there that can help. Apps like ReachOut Breathe and SmilingMind provide short bursts of meditation and mindfulness sessions that you can do anywhere. All you need is figure out the one that suits you and do it. There are ones you can do in the middle of the day or before you go to bed at night. Some are also geared towards kids. It is worth checking these apps out.