How to practice mindfulness
3 ways to understand mindfulness
What is mindfulness?
It's something you've no doubt heard a lot about or have at least heard of. Even without looking it up, it sounds a little "woo woo.”
Whatever it is, it sounds like something that involves a lot of meditation. And difficult poses. And yoga pants.
Mindfulness is a big concept. And because it's a big concept it's been talked about a lot. And when big ideas get talked about a lot, it's easy to get lost.
So I want to keep it simple.
Real simple.
And give you three easy ways to think about mindfulness and make it a part of your life.
Here goes.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness means to empty your brain of everything but the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing right now.
Get rid or your worry. Get rid of what you're planning to do this weekend or this week or later on today. Stop thinking about whether or not the dog needs a bath and how you're gonna pay the car bill and just focus on what you're thinking and experiencing right now.
Mindfulness is when you empty your brain of worry and all your plans and just fill it up with what you're experiencing in the here and now.
Here are three ways to think about mindfulness.
1 - Get rid of worry
To practice mindfulness empty your mind of all anxiety about the past and the future. Focus on what you are doing now.
In other words, mindfulness is simply to make your mind "full”of what you are doing now.
Mindfulness is all about having your mind focused on what you are doing now. Mindfulness is a "habit hack” because when you are focused on what you are doing now, then you'll be more efficient.
It's that simple. It works off what I call the empty brain is an efficient brain principle.
Your brain is a machine that is designed to achieve your success and happiness. Worry and anxiety slow your brain down. Empty your brain of anxiety and worry and get more done.
We live in a culture that praises so-called "multitasking.” Also, our attention is constantly bombarded, because of our devices and social media.
But multitasking doesn't work. And social media has a lot of good going for it, but it doesn't help you be productive when you have something important to do.
The easiest way to be mindful is to do everything you can to avoid distraction. And don't rely on willpower alone. Take active steps to remove social media and devices at key parts of the day when you need to be constructive.
Plan. Out. Your. Day. Plan out what you need to work on and then focus on that. When other worries and concerns creep into your brain throughout the day, don't let them get you off task. It's important to let your brain stay in a flow state so you can get more done.
When you make a plan, trust yourself and trust your schedule. Don't let yourself get sidetracked and finish what is in front of you right now. This philosophy is behind a lot of earlier habit hacks that you can find here and here.
2 - Practice Daily
Practice mindfulness as a skill
This is the part of mindfulness that scares people off the most. All it means to practice mindfulness is just to literally practice awareness of what is going on in your mind.
For some people this is meditation, for others its prayer. For you it could be a daily walk around your neighborhood. There's no right or wrong choice here, but choose a habit you can practice daily that lets you set cares and concerns aside and focus on what is happening in your mind.
It can be as simple as paying attention to your breathing or your thoughts in prayer or even just enjoying nature as you spend time outside. But it should be a time during the day when you can just sit and think and be and you don't have to worry about getting anything done.
It doesn't have to be complicated and you don't have to be a guru. Anyone can just sit and be.
But...one thing that's important. Don't make mindfulness a part of your "morning routine” if it just becomes an excuse to procrastinate in the morning.
3- Know yourself, don't judge yourself
Mindfulness helps you understand yourself with zero judgment. This enables you to evaluate things better.
When you practice mindfulness, you can think about your thoughts, habits, and emotions without judgment. This is helpful, because we've already made up our judgments about these things. Because of that we shield ourselves from thinking about them critically.
When you practice mindfulness you become more aware of why you think and feel the way you do. And...somewhat paradoxically, it gives you the power to make a more authentic judgment and change patterns of behavior that you can now realize are not beneficial to you.
Simply put - most of us judge behaviors and thoughts before we're aware of them. Mindfulness reverses all that.
For example, you might set a goal to finish your daily exercise before a certain time each day. This is a fine goal, but it might not work for everyone. When you practice mindfulness you might realize that trying to hit a specific time requirement every day causes unnecessary anxiety.
You may have missed this before, because you've already judged the behavior as something you want so therefore it's "good.”But once you pay attention to your thoughts and feelings surround the behavior, you realize it actually makes you feel anxiety...so it's possible it's not "good”for you at this time.
Again, mindfulness is a big idea...but don't let that scare you.
Mindfulness is a simple idea. Mindfulness just means to be “full of the present”--what you’re thinking and feeling now. Empty your brain of anxieties about your past and your future.
There is a lot you can read about mindfulness if you want to learn more about it, but if you want to understand it as a means of being more productive, focus on these three things:
1 - Empty your mind of all anxiety about the past and the future.
2 - Practice mindfulness daily in some small way.
3 - Use mindfulness as a means of understanding your thoughts, feelings, and motivations with zero judgment so that you can evaluate your goals more honestly.
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