5 Ways to Practice Mindfulness Daily
Posture
Our posture and the way we carry ourselves directly affect our mood, our self-esteem and communication with the outside world. However, it is often forgotten and overlooked in our day to day chaos. Waking up in the morning the first thing we do is sit up and get out of bed. Sometimes it can be a slow process, but other times we rush out in a panic without awareness. The slower we move the more we can notice how our body is feeling and the way we are moving. As we sit up on our bed, do we have our shoulder slumped and head down or chest out with our head high? Brushing our teeth and washing our face, are we hunching over the sink or using awareness to hinge at our waist and keep our back flat? These are only two examples from our daily morning routine, think of all of the many other times we can use mindfulness to correct our posture and increase our confidence.
Breathe
We do it every second of the day, but we do even notice it sometimes? Breathing is an unconscious action we do to stay alive every day, but many times we are breathing incorrectly. We are unable to take full deep breaths when we are over consuming on a daily basis and it becomes our new habit of breathing shallowly. We can use mindfulness to become aware of when our breathing is abnormal and notice how our emotions can show us the root of the imbalance. Our thoughts can often take control and make us feel that we are in danger, when most times we just need to remember to breathe full breaths to give oxygen to our brain and entire body.
Walk
We can talk the talk but can we walk the walk? Similar to our posture, our walk is also an important part of our daily movement that affects our overall health. Our ancestors walked many miles each day to find resources to survive, but in today’s modern world, everything is at our finger tips without us needing to walk more than 10ft to our doorstep. The way we walk can share a lot about our lifestyle habits and how we view ourselves and the world. When we walk we should use mindfulness to notice our surroundings, find a comfortable pace and keep our head up, (not looking down at our phone).
Talk
Our thoughts and beliefs are attached to every word that comes out of our mouth, whether we realize it or not. What we say is a reflection of our mind and also determines what comes into existence in our life. Before speaking, we can use mindfulness to notice if what we are about to say is going to benefit ourselves or the other person listening. Is our word coming from a place of judgments or fear, or is it coming from a place of love and compassion? Choosing our words and the way we say them is an important part of being our best version of ourselves and creating best self care practices. Most importantly, the way we talk and think about ourselves will reflect onto our behavior to ourselves and to others. When we love and accept ourself first, we can then share that with those around us.
Smile
Smiling will brighten your day by 100%, based on research of someone who smiles every day. We can easily get distracted by our constant mental chatter and worries that we forget what facial expressions we are keeping on our neutral face. When we remember that we are alive and breathing we have something to smile about and can bring more gratitude and abundance into our life. Mindfulness will allow us to develop a deeper awareness of our daily habits and how we can choose to make the best of each day by spreading a smile to all.
