036 – Top 10 Ways To Become More Mindful
Every successful busy professional is built on the foundation of being productive, and focused. It’s this focus that costs your body and mind to become distracted from the present moment. In this podcast episode, let’s bring down the stress levels and start to show up in a different way – a more mindful way.
It’s hard – if not impossible – to become more mindful and present without first creating the intention. Intention needs to come in the form of regular mental habit. Every successful busy professional is built on the foundation of being productive, and focused. It’s this focus that costs your body and mind to become distracted from the present moment. Focus is great when you’re being productive, but the busy-ness can get in the way of those mindful moments. This becomes detrimental to one’s health. In this episode, follow these top 10 ways to become more mindful.
If you’re considering some alternatives to the ways you’re showing-up in the world. Good job! As a Mindfulness Coach, I teach people about the benefits of mindfulness, and help them implement the strategies they need to cultivate a mindset for health.
In this podcast episode, you’ll hear:
- My top 10 list of ways to become more mindful.
- The way you set up your life can help you change your daily habits.
- Some intangible factors that affect your life have nothing to do with how much control you actually have.
- The specific strategy you can apply right now that will change your life forever. It only takes a few minutes a day.
Read Audio Transcript here:
This Top 10 List is meant to be offered as a buffet option of ideas in applying more mindfulness. Ideally, you would begin to change your daily habits one-step at a time so that the health changes are sustainable in the long-run. Learning to become more mindful is a process.
#1. Listen to music to become more mindful and be in the moment.
My daughter & I love listening to Deva Premal’s Mantras! Her voice brings us to a place of mindfulness each time.
#2. Make lists of ideas of how you want to feel
I love making lists!!!! Making lists of things-to-do, ideas, or desires, helps one to mentally visualize their next steps. Visualization is very powerful at awakening the peaceful and joyful nature of our minds. Also, when you prepare your time through lists, you can become so much more efficient. In order to practice mindfulness, being more intentional about how you want to show-up in the world can help you lack emotional self-regulation – loosing focus on the present moment.
#3. Choose to be around colour, or wear more colour
Colour can transform our minds. By wearing brighter colour or having more colour in your environment, you create more opportunity to shift your mental awareness and focus. This shifts your focus to the present moment. Suddenly, you are presented with an opportunity to be more intentional in you life. Colour can represent your mood. By choosing the colours you wear, you get to choose your mood.
#4. Find a Pinterest Inspiration board, like Satori’s Soulful Living board.
If you don’t know about Pinterest, they are a search engine that allows you to create boards of any kind, and you add pins to those boards. It’s a fantastic resource for inspiration. In my own Soulful Living board, I added many pins that can help you become more mindful and that will only take you 30 seconds to browse the board. It’s a visual board. If you want to know more about Pinterest, go here.
#5. Call a friend or family member on your next day off
On your next day off, consider taking a few moments of mindfulness to call family. Try to be present on your call and discuss why you appreciate them. Discuss the good things that are happening in your life…only the good stuff...not even a hint that anything is kicking you down.
If you’re struggling with taking a day off work, head over to episode 38, I offer you some advice on why you need to take the day off work and not feel guilty about it. Instead of pushing harder – you can actually plan your day off to reach your full potential and wake-up on a mission to be fulfilled.
#6 Use positive self-talk
This is about creating positive images in our mind about ourselves. Sometimes, it’s more difficult to talk to ourselves positively, because we feel we need to push ourselves to greatness. Perhaps an adult taught you to speak in negative ways and that helped you get a job done. The words we use to describe ourselves can become who we are, if we’re not aware of it. By using positive self-talk, you become more mindful of how the qualities you want to exude to the world. Using positive self-talk is one of the best ways to program your subconscious mind to think in positive ways.
How do I use positive self-talk? write short “I am____” statements. You can create this as a part of a new healthy routine.
#7 – Colouring in a mandala colouring book
Colouring in a mandala book requires you be present with all the beauty of colour. All you need is 10 minutes in your day to practice a few moments of mindfulness. If you don’t have a colouring book, grab a pen and paper and doodle. This allows you to be present for a few moments. Be mindful of the feeling your pencil or pen creates as it hits the paper with your hands.
#8. Keep a journal to ensure you’re designing your own mindful life
By practicing self-reflection through journaling, mindfulness becomes easy and attainable on a more consistent basis. I keep several journals that hold different purposes. Each morning, I wake-up at 4:55am and write for an hour in my future journal. Because journaling allows my mind to wander, I’m better able to see my life unfold the way I want it to. This contemplative practice can help you remove obstacles that are standing in the way of achieving greater things. Above all, journaling is a freeing process and is thus a great way to become more mindful.
#9. Join a mindfulness group, or our monthly meditation groups
Groups can add more variety in your life by connecting with people who share similar interests. Groups can be found through your local library, or virtually. Meditation groups are quite common in most communities. If you don’t know the benefits to meditation yet, head over to this podcast episode where I tell you the 5 interesting facts about meditation. Mindfulness fits into this category as well.
#10. Get to work!
In order to be productive at managing your stress with these 10 strategies, start by putting everything that’s unimportant aside and follow your heart.
BONUS MINDFULNESS TIP
Consider learning to meditate.
There are a host of physical, emotional, and cognitive benefits to vedic meditation, in particular, that I reference in many areas of my blog. If you’re looking to benefit all areas of your life, head over to Episode 21: 3 Ways To Build A Healthy Routine, where I discuss 3 highly relevant health strategies to making sustainable changes in your health and your life. Listen to that episode here.
Anytime you’re trying to make lifestyle changes, it’s important to consider accessing the right support. This added support and coaching will help you build momentum in your life towards becoming more mindful. A mentor will always be there to boost you and help you tap into your inner strength, while also helping you be aware of those challenging blind-spots that hold you back.
Our 3-part podcast episode on managing your fear is also great resource to gain more insight on how to be mindful of the things you’re struggling to change.
Relevant Podcast Episodes:
Episode 14 – Top 5 Myths of Meditation
Episode 21 – 3 Ways To Build A Healthy Routine (cheatsheet available below)
Episode 22 – Deconstructing Routines & Changing Daily Habits
Episode 33 – 5 Interesting Facts About Meditation
Blog Post – The Importance Of Employee Health & Wellness Programs
Self Mastery Card: Understanding. 🙂
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