We often think of mindfulness as this big endeavour we have to take on. But what if I told you that you could easily incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine with minimal effort? The wonderful thing about mindfulness is that there are SO MANY ways to practice it. And it’s actually better to practice mindfulness little and often than infrequently or not at all.
This post is dedicated to showing you how you how you can easily sprinkle bite-sized chunks of mindfulness throughout your day. This will benefit you more than sitting down for one 30-minute guided meditation a week, believe it or not! Below is a list of 6 easy ways to practice mindfulness daily. Most, if not all, should be easy to blend into your daily routine and might even help you to enjoy your daily tasks a little bit more!
Be Present as You Get Ready
It can be easy to be on autopilot first thing in the morning, especially if you too are not a morning person. The struggle is real, trust me! But I encourage you to wake your brain up a little by mindfully completing your morning hygiene routine. If you shower in the morning, really notice the temperature of the water and how it feels as it hits your body. Notice the taste of the toothpaste as you brush your teeth. Really feel the contours of your face as you gently wash it. And for bonus points, tell yourself one thing you like about yourself as you look in the mirror!
Sip Your Tea (or Coffee) Mindfully
Raise your hand if you drink any type of beverage throughout the day. Great, you automatically have several opportunities to easily practice mindfulness throughout your day. Starting with your morning tea or coffee, I invite you to really tune into your senses as you take those first few sips. Notice the warmth of the mug in your hands, the steam on your face, the smell of the beverage, the taste and sensations on your tongue as you take that first sip – you get the picture.
If you’re particularly intrigued by this method for practicing mindfulness, feel free to check out this 6-minute tea meditation on Youtube (they also have one for eating chocolate that I highly recommend!).
Get Outside
I love to get outside as much as I can throughout the day. Sometimes that means actually having time to go and sit by water and soak up the sun. Other times that looks like stepping on my front porch for 30-seconds. Either way, these are great opportunities to practice mindfulness. Just taking even a short period of time to explore our environment using our senses is a great way to bring us back into the present moment. Next time you are outside, see if you can explore your surroundings using your senses:
- What can you see around you that maybe you don’t normally focus on?
- How many different sounds can you pick out?
- Can you feel the sun warming your skin, or a cool breeze rustling your hair?
- Are there any smells in the air?
Try Mono-Tasking
If we were to explore the opposite of mindfulness, one word that would definitely come up is multi-tasking. I get it, we’re all busy, so sometimes it feels like we have no choice but to have multiple things on the go. But a great way to slow down and incorporate some mindfulness into your day is to pick even just one task and commit to focusing only on that for a given period of time.
I’ll give you a couple examples of mono-tasking for inspiration. If you are working on a work project, make sure your e-mails aren’t open in another tab (terrifying, I know). If you are watching Netflix, try to put your phone in another room so you’re not doom scrolling the whole time.
Mono-tasking is going to feel extremely uncomfortable at first, especially if you’re not used to it. But I challenge you to give it a try daily, even for just 5-minutes, and see how it goes!
Listen to Music, and Only Listen to Music
Now you might be thinking: hey, I listen to music all the time! Does that mean I’m a master of mindfulness? Not quite. Because the key to listening to music mindfully is that you are literally only listening to music, and not doing anything else. Definitely a weird concept in a society that values multitasking.
Next time you need to slow down a little or take a mindful break, pop on some headphones (it makes it easier to tune into the music and block out external noises), pick out a song, close your eyes and just listen. While you’re doing this, you might be surprised at the things you pick up on in the song that you never noticed before. Or else you might notice the different emotional responses your body has as the song progresses. It’s quite cool, I really recommend giving it a try!
Connect with Your Body Through Gentle Exercise
One of my favourite ways to wind down for the night is to practice some light yoga. Not only does this get me away from any screens before bed, it also allows me to tune into my body. While this is something I do at night, you can definitely apply this concept to any exercise at any time of day. All you have to do is focus your attention on your body and breathing as you go through the movements. See if you can notice any sensations that come up in your body as you move, or how your breathing changes throughout your practice. This is also a wonderful opportunity to express gratitude for your body and all that it does for you.
Conclusion
While I kept this list fairly short so as not to overwhelm you, I hope you found something inspiring in it. Maybe you’ll try one of the daily mindfulness practices listed above, or maybe they inspired you to incorporate mindfulness into another one of your daily habits. That’s the thing, there’s no right or wrong answer here! As long as you’re practicing mindfulness, you’re doing it right, and it’s all about what feels most right for you. So, give some different practices a try and let me know down below which was your favourite!
PS – looking for some more ways to practice mindfulness? Check out these posts:
