Mindful activities

To nd calm in daily life

Meditation for a better life

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One of the most common and well-known mindfulness
activities for adults is meditation. While it may seem esoteric
or inaccessible, meditation can actually be very simple.

These exercises are meant to transform everyday

experiences into mindful moments.

Mindfulness activities can involve almost anything you do in

your day-to-day life. It’s not meant to be separate from
reality, but to be an integral and enriching part of it.
 Breathing
exercise
You can do it almost anywhere even when you wait for someone
to show up.

Don’t waste your breath and your time.

Breathe with mindfulness. Breathe to calm yourself.

 Walk
with mindfulness
You can do it almost anywhere, whether you’re walking to
work, taking a stroll around the neighborhood, or hanging
out with your kids at the park.
Body scanning
Body scan meditation is a simple, relaxing way to calm the mind and body. It
involves using awareness to mindfully scan your body for sensations, like pain
or tension.

To practice, you simply lie down, relax the body, and tune in to what you’re
feeling.
Mindful Driving
If you’re driving your car, you can engage with the process by focusing on the weight of
the vehicle underneath you, the texture of the road you’re driving on, the sound of the tires
against the gravel, and even the shape, and feel of the seat against your rear.
Then, you can send your focus out to scan your environment and become aware not only
of other vehicles, lights, and pedestrians, but also of the terrain, foliage, and skyline. With
practice, you may even become a better driver.
Keep your phone on silent, turn off the music, and save the makeup application for the
parking lot.
Mindful eating
Mindful eating is a way to turn something you do every day into a mindfulness practice.

You can make mealtimes more mindful with a few basic mindful eating practices, like
listening to the sizzle of your pan and chewing slowly to savor every bite.

• Eat the rst few minutes of your meal in silence and focus on your food's avors,
aromas, and texture.
• Turn off your TV and put your phone away while you eat.
• Consider whether it is good for your health or not.
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1) Let your body catch up to your brain
Eating rapidly past full and ignoring your body’s signals vs. slowing
down and eating and stopping when your body says it’s full.
Slowing down is one of the best ways we can get our mind and body to
communicate what we really need for nutrition. The body actually sends its
satiation signal about 20 minutes after the brain, which is why we often
unconsciously overeat. But, if we slow down, you can give your body a chance to
catch up to your brain and hear the signals to eat the right amount. Simple ways to
slow down might just include follow many of your grandmother’s manners, like
sitting down to eat, chewing each bite 25 times (or more), setting your fork down
between bites, and all those old manners that are maybe not as pointless as they
seemed. What are some ways you can slow down eating and listen more deeply to
your body’s signals
2) Know your body’s personal hunger signals
Are you responding to an emotional want or responding to your
body’s needs?
Often we listen rst to our minds, but like many mindfulness practices, we might
discover more wisdom by tuning into our bodies rst. Rather than just eating when
we get emotional signals, which may be different for each of us, be they stress,
sadness, frustration, loneliness or even just boredom, we can listen to our bodies. Is
your stomach growling, energy low, or feeling a little lightheaded? Too often, we
eat when our mind tells us to, rather than our bodies. True mindful eating is
actually listening deeply to our body’s signals for hunger. Ask yourself: What are
your body’s hunger signals, and what are your emotional hunger triggers?
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 Distracted eating vs. just eating
Multitasking and eating are a recipe for not being able to listen deeply to our body’s
needs and wants. We’ve all had the experience of going to the movies with our bag full of
popcorn, and before the coming attractions are over, we are asking who ate all of our
popcorn. When we are distracted, it becomes harder to listen to our body’s signals about
food and other needs. With your next meal, try single-tasking and just eating, with no
screens or distractions besides enjoying the company you are sharing a meal and
conversation with.
So while formal mindful eating practices may be what we think of when we look back on
a mindfulness course or retreat we attended, the reality is that we do live, and eat, in the
real world which is a busy place. But we can take the insights gained from our formal
practice- slowing down, listening to our bodies, doing one thing at a time, making even
small rituals, and considering all that went into our meal on a more regular basis and
bring more informal mindfulness to our daily meals.
Mindful gardening
Gardening is a great way to practice mindfulness and connect with nature at the same time.
Set yourself up with a simple task, like planting some seeds or watering some owers.

As you do so, place your hand in the soil and feel its texture. Is it rough or ne? Is it damp
or dry? Is it warm or cool? Allow yourself to enjoy the process as if you were a child playing.

Notice the weather — not through your mind, but through your sensations. Do you have
goosebumps from a chill in the air, or is there sweat on your brow from the hot sun?

Notice any other forms of life around you, like a chattering squirrel or chirping bird. You’re
likely to meet a worm or roly-poly in the soil, too.

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 Mindful
Movement
Single-tasking
single-tasking is the opposite of multitasking. All it requires is showing up fully
to whatever task you’re working on.

If you’re working on the computer, focus on one task at a time. As much as

you may not want to, close all the browser tabs that aren’t relevant to the
project you’re working on. This can help free up mental space and might even
create laser focus.
To deepen the practice, focus on:

• how you’re breathing

• how your body feels in your seat, or how your feet feel
against the oor if you’re standing
• the sensation of the air or your clothes against your skin
• the structure and posture of your body
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 Gratitude List
Creating a gratitude list may help improve well-being and promote positivity by
helping you focus on the things that you’re grateful for.

Try adding 3-5 items to your list each day and build it into your daily schedule to stay
consistent.

You can write your gratitude list rst thing in the morning to get your day off to a great
start or list a few things that you’re grateful for before winding down for bed.
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 Acceptance /
Self-compassion
Anxiety can often involve resistance and fear toward the anxiety itself.
One way to relax the hold anxiety has on you is to accept it. This can
involve a simple reframing of anxiety as a strength rather than a
shortcoming.

When you do so, you may also nd that you can more easily let go
of self-blame or shame around having anxiety in the rst place.
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