Mindfulness is bringing your attention to the present moment. This can help tremendously when you venture into your personal health, because you are paying attention to what your body needs. Mindfulness can help you determine how you’re really feeling in the moment.
Explore these daily practices for bringing more mindfulness into your life:
LEARN TO MEDITATE
Even if you can only sit in silence for a minute before thoughts about your to-do list start to emerge, try to commit to a daily meditation. You can start slowly, by sitting in silence for five minutes in the beginning, and working your way up to 15-20 minutes. The harder time you have sitting still, in awareness, the more you are likely in need of meditation. There are many benefits of meditation, including improved symptoms of anxiety, depression and pain and improved sleep quality.JOURNAL
Sometimes just writing down your anxious thoughts can help them go away. Find yourself a hardback journal, your favorite pen, and get writing. If writing on blank pages scares you, try a journal with prompts already added. There are even smartphone apps such as Reflectly that remind you to take some time to write down what happened that day!
MAKING EATING ENJOYABLE
How often do you really taste your food and allow your taste buds to bathe in the beautiful flavors created by nature? Take the time to truly experience your meals, rather than eating too quickly and absent-mindedly. Eat until your stomach is 2/3 or 3/4 full. Remember, the food you eat is the information you choose to give to your body about your environment. Your body will respond, and different pathways will be activated, depending on what you eat.
PRACTICE SELF CARE
One form of self-care is making sure your basic needs are met. That means sometimes, taking care of yourself is to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. Other ideas for self-care include getting a massage, meditating, taking a bubble bath and going to yoga. Even splurging on a new skincare product or trying a new wellness product is a great practice of self care.
