You have probably heard by now about the importance of mindfulness. You have seen countless influencers and celebrities selling you tips and courses on how to be mindful. But when it comes to actually applying this logic to your real life, you just can’t stop thinking about how stressful your life has been lately.
While ‘be present’ and ‘live in the moment’ have become the new-age generation slogans of our times, it’s tough to understand how to be mindful all day. Even though we are constantly reminded of how unfruitful the practice is, we get stuck in the past and future cycle.
If you are like the majority of us, you know learning how to be more present at the moment is extremely tough. We are constantly obsessing over things we have done, what we should have done, and the miracle of difference our actions could bring in our lives. If not, you might constantly analyze, plan, and contemplate what the future holds for you.
It’s a full-blown daily struggle.
How do you increase your mindfulness and be more present and proactive in the moment? How do you avoid overthinking past regrets or obsessing over the future?
If these existential questions have been bugging you for a while, we have got you covered. In this blog post, we will dive into the top tips on how to be more mindful in day-to-day life. So, if mindfulness has been feeling a little out of reach to you, this is the perfect place to get started. Let’s dive in!
But, Firstly, What Does Being More Present In The Moment Mean?
At the foundational level, learning how to be more mindful all day means being focused on whatever you are doing – a conversation, project, meal, etc. It means concentrating and being wholeheartedly invested in any activity without wanting to be somewhere else or lost in your head with myriad unrelated thoughts.
At a more profound level, learning how to increase mindfulness means being able to sit with your emotions, no matter how uncomfortable they are. It means accepting complex thoughts and feelings as they come to you without fighting them. No matter what stressor triggers you, learning how to be more mindful in day-to-day life teaches you to process situations rather than push them away.
To be more present allows you to feel all emotions. It will enable you to be more happy, sad, angry, or anxious. Once you have fully felt that emotion, you can let it go and not let it overpower you or mess with your mind.
And Why Do You Need To Learn How To Be More Mindful?
When you learn how to be mindful all the time, you give yourself the much-needed calm and peace.
In today’s fast-paced life, it’s easy to feel like you are too busy to catch a breath. We are constantly juggling with multiple stimuli from multiple devices. You have to maintain online and offline personas and be your best possible self all through this. Therefore, it’s easy to get stuck up and forget the present moment altogether.
This is where learning how to be more mindful all the time actually helps. As per credible scientific research, it reduces anxiety, increases neuroplasticity in the brain, and significantly improves your mood.
Simply put, learning how to be more mindful is more than just a fluffy practice.
It means mentally and physically showing up in your life every day. It means proactively learning how to stay in the present moment and engage with whatever you are doing ‘now.’
Learning how to be mindful all day has multiple benefits, including the following:
- It reduces the constant weight you feel as you manage everything as it happens rather than pushing it into the pile of things you need to deal with eventually.
- It reduces the anxiety associated with constantly thinking about the future.
- It improves your mood significantly.
- It also improves your concentration, creativity, and productivity as it frees up the space for unnecessary thoughts to take up in your brain otherwise.
The Best Ways To Be More Mindful In Your Everyday Life
1. Take regular breaks in your day.
You don’t need to spend your whole day trying to learn how to be mindful of your thoughts and feelings. Just a few moments from your busy schedule can make all the difference.
This is why it’s essential that you actually make that time for yourself. Therefore, every day, give yourself a scheduled ‘me’ time that you spend slowing down and indulging in something that nourishes you – like reading a book, cooking, etc.
2. Reduce your screen time.
If you continue to hit ‘play next episode’ on Netflix, this tip on how to be mindful all day is specifically for you.
We are constantly on our devices. Right from the moment you wake up, notifications start piling up to connect you with the rest of the world. With this information overload, learning how to be mindful in day-to-day life is extremely difficult.
But you can change this scenario with the choices you make.
Make a conscious effort to cut down your screen time and turn off the volume of the outside world to tune in with yourself. This will give you so much more control over how your day progresses.
3. Celebrate small things.
We are constantly made to believe that only more prominent and more significant things are worth celebrating.
But if you really want to learn how to stay in the present moment, shed these notions and celebrate the small joys. You don’t need anything momentous to be happy. Maybe it’s your favorite song on the radio, a perfect cup of coffee, a beautiful sunrise, and pretty much anything that brings you joy – it’s time you celebrate these things.
Take a moment to appreciate how perfect and beautiful the present moment is.
4. Get comfortable with slowing down and pausing.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Therefore, you will always encounter stressors or triggers at every step.
But how you react to these triggers is what makes the ultimate difference. Whenever something stresses you out, take a moment to calm down and breathe. Take your time to pause and slow down before jumping into action. This really puts you in control of whatever is happening. It gives you the much-needed perspective shift to deal with everything coming your way.
5. Connect with your immediate surroundings.
Learning how to become more mindful is pretty complicated. You aren’t supposed to be on your phone or indulging with people. So what do you do during this time?
Connect with natural surroundings. Take a walk outside and notice how the world feels when you look at it from a distance. Suppose you can’t just move to the nearest window and watch the clouds. Watching how energy flows and how life breathes in your natural environment can give you more clarity than you imagine.
6. Do one thing at a time.
No matter how much you want to believe otherwise, but the human brain isn’t cut out for multitasking. You are much more (not less) productive when you are actually focusing on one thing rather than trying to accomplish five tasks at once.
Therefore, if you really want to learn how to become mindful, try indulging in one thing at a time. Choose something that’s a priority on your to-do list and commit yourself to it wholeheartedly. And while you are allowed to switch focus, try completing one task before moving on to the next.
7. Understand that you are much more than your thoughts.
The first few times you learn how to increase mindfulness, you might feel you are bombarded by negative thoughts and emotions. Your inner voice can get particularly harsh and make you think you aren’t enough.
On these days, it’s essential to understand that your thoughts don’t define you. What’s going on in your mind is not necessarily the definition of who you are. When you disassociate from your thoughts and look at them from a different perspective, you get a much-needed understanding of who you truly are.
8. Stop judging or comparing yourself.
Our perfectionist tendencies often bog us down. We are constantly comparing ourselves to other people. Our happiness is defined by other people and their actions.
However, if you want to learn how to be mindful all the time, you must permit yourself to fail without judgment. Go easy on yourself and believe in yourself on the days when things don’t go your way.
Conclusion:
As humans, it’s almost inevitable to get stuck between past regrets and future prospects. However, while doing so, we fail to be more present at the only moment that matters – now!
This is why learning how to be mindful all day is essential. It gives you the power to feel genuine emotions, reduce anxiety, and uptick productivity. It makes you more focused and reduces overthinking. We hope these tips on how to stay in the present moment will help you get started the right way.
Mindfulness can get pretty complicated without the right guidance. Here are the best mindfulness books of all time to guide you through the practice.
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