Common Themes
The common mindfulness practices involve a specific focus, as do all mindfulness practices. There are two other key items that are important when doing any mindfulness related activity. One is being kind to yourself. When your attention wanders, simply guide it back to the task without getting upset. Your attention is only doing what it is trained to do, and these exercises provide the opportunity to train your attention to work in a different way. Lastly, work on not attaching judgement to any task or thought that pops into your head. For example, if I am walking and focusing on my foot steps and I notice my shoelace is untied, my automatic thinking may be “oh that was foolish of me to not check my shoelaces before I left home”. Even that simple thought attaches judgment to how you think about yourself. Work on not attaching judgement to yourself. It is key to mindfulness because it helps build an attitude of acceptance for not only yourself but everything that is going on around you. This detachment from judgement will also help with emotional and overwhelming feelings.
Time to try
This series has been an introduce to mindfulness. However, the only way to truly experience it is to try it. Mindfulness practices are safe and can be practiced without professional help. As I mentioned previously, there are many more mindfulness activates other than the five I mentioned. Some of the others I have experienced are mindful coloring/drawing, breathing exercises, tapping on the body or on a surface near you, basketball shooting, and many more. The neat thing about mindfulness is creating your own activity and turning it into a mindful activity. Create your own by choosing an activity, keep your attention focused on it in a kind, non-judgmental way. Even tasks like washing the dishes can be a mindful exercise (something I do and makes doing the dishes much more relaxing). I encourage you to try it and see what works best for you, be creative and have fun. As always, if you feel like you need professional help give me a call or email and I will help however I can.