Category: Mindfulness

Easy Ways to Practice Mindfulness Everyday

Easy Ways to Practice Mindfulness Everyday

Posted on by Steph

Hi there!

If you don’t know, Mindfulness has become an important part of my life, and has helped me a lot (I talk more about it here). I try to practice it everyday, even if I can’t seat and meditate for 5-10 minutes everyday, which is my goal, I have found ways to incorporate it to my everyday life and routine. Today I want to share with you my favorite and easiest ways to incorporate Mindfulness in my life, hoping it will inspire you to do the same, and find ways to be mentally present.

While taking a shower

I have talk about this one a lot, and that’s because is my favorite way to practice Mindfulness. Since I can remember taking a shower has always been something relaxing for me, and since I started been more mindful about it I love them even more. Concentrate on what you are doing, on the sensations it gives you, on how it feels, smells and just take all in and don’t think about anything else, is just you in that moment.

Driving

I notice that when driving my mind used to wonder a lot, and having a stressful lifestyle, the thoughts that usually came where not positive or relaxing. When I am in the car I like listening to podcast (you can read about my favorites here), but sometimes I had to be rewinding because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was listening or my surroundings. Now I try my best to be present in the moment and to pay attention to what I am listening.

In bed, to fall a sleep

I used to not practice Mindfulness Meditation on bed, because I will get sleepy and would spend the 5 or 10 minutes trying to not fall a sleep. Know I do it to fall a sleep, without timer. I am sure I am not the only one that goes to bed and starts thinking of all the things I have to do and gets all worried for things that I can’t do or change at that precise moment. Mindfulness has helped with that. I prefer to concentrate on my breathing, my body, my bed and sheets, and go to sleep feeling relaxed (and also fall a sleep faster), than to fall a sleep feeling stressed and worried.

Mindfulness meditation can be done in many different ways, and it helps with relaxation, concentration, memory and many other things, because you are present in the moment, and not letting worrying, negative or just any thought control you, control the way you experience things and react to them, you are the one in control. It takes practice and hard work, I personally struggle to keep up my practice, but I try my best, because I know that is good for me.

I hope you can find ways to incorporate mindfulness meditation into your everyday life, and that you can enjoy it’s benefits.

Have you tried Mindfulness Meditation? Was your favorite way to practice it? If not, do you think is something you will be incorporating to your daily routine? I will love to know your thoughts, be sure to leave me a comment.

Never stop dreaming,

♥ Steph

My 31 Days Mindfulness Journey

Posted on by Steph

Hi there!

Today I want to share with you my 31 Days of Mindfulness Meditation journey.

From my journal on March 18, 2018:

“I have been feeling so stressed, my body has been angry at my, this week I had the worst episodes of migraine I have ever had. One day this week I had a migraine for most of the day, I stayed home, I spent my day from my bed to my sofa, when the migrane went away, it left a sensation of pain, something that I am used to when I get migraines, but then at night I started to get a headache in the frontal area (tension headaches), and when I went to bed at night I had pain on one shoulder, lower back and on my legs. The next day, Saturday, I decided I had to do something to feel more relaxed and give my body and mind some love.”

On a mindfulness meditation class I took at Instituto de Mindfulness in Old San Juan, Veronica Fernandez, the facilitator, told us this about mindfulness:

“It is having a mental presence. Being here now. It is being aware of our physical, mental and emotional experience at this time. It is a silent, natural, relaxed approach or attention. It is that body and mind are in the same place at the same time. It is observing without getting involved.”

I have been into mindfulness meditation for the last 2 years, but it’s something I do for a time and then I don’t do for a longer time. This time I decided I had to do something, so my plan was to try mindfulness meditation for 31 days to see how will it make me feel. I keep a note on my phone of short entries for each day I practiced it.

Day 1:

It wasn’t so bad, I decided to start with 5 minutes and they didn’t felt as long as I thought they would.

Day 2:

I had a harder time getting to stay focused, there was noise on my street (that started when I decided I was going to meditate, and now that I finished and I’m writing this the street has gone silent), plus a lot of thoughts about the university and the wedding. I feel like 5 minutes are not enough.

Day 3:

I made the mistake of meditating just before going to sleep, and tried to do it for 10 minutes, and for half of the meditation I was really just fighting to not fall asleep.

Day 12 & 13

I woke up at 4:30 even tough I didn’t have to, since I didn’t have to go to work, but I am committed to waking up early and I am loving meditating at this time of the day. This past 3 days that I have implemented the mantra “Yo puedo” (“I can”), to bring my mind back when it wonders has help me keep a positive feeling through my meditations.

Day 31

I woke up late today so I decided to meditate on the car, before my day got all crazy. I have gotten used to doing it everyday and I get less distracted that on the beginning.

Today is day 32 of Mindfulness Meditation, and I love how it has become part of my daily routine and I am determined to find time for it. My favorite time to do it is at 4:30 in the morning before starting my day, but when that doesn’t happen if I have the time I will do it in the parking at work or at my practice center, and if that doesn’t happen I will do it at night before going to sleep, but that is my least favorite time to do it, because I am usually tired and sleepy.

Streaks App – 32 days of Mindfulness Meditation, still working on other habits.

I am still suffering from migraines, I think it may have to do with the hectic lifestyle I am having, but meditating daily has helped me on the way I react to them. I am not good with pain, I get frustrated, inpatient, I cry, I feel desperate and I can’t stay still. Now when I get migraines I can stay still, I breath and concentrate on the feeling of my breathing to help me not reacted to the pain and the thoughts that may come. This has help me a lot, I still cry and feel desperate, but compared to how it was before, I have seen a big change. The best part is that being still and not crying, while I can, helps to not make the pain worse.

This is how a meditate, a dog on my lap and a cat looking out the window.

Mindfulness meditation is good for our bodies and souls, and there are many ways to practice it. I will be writing more about it in the future. For now I want to challenge you try Mindfulness Meditation for 31 days. Take some time from your day, even if it’s just 3 minutes, sit still and quiet, concentrate on your breathing, acknowledge your thoughts and then let them go away, and work on not reacting to them. It will feel strange at first but then it will feel so refreshing, trust me.

“You get peace of mind not by thinking about it or imagining it, but by quietening and relaxing the restless mind.” -Remez Sasson

Have you tried Mindfulness Meditation? What are your thoughts on it? Please let me know in the comments section below.

Never stop dreaming,

♥ Steph
Ps. I used the Streaks app to keep track of my progress and the ZenFriend app as a timer.