How to become more mindful

Mindfulness is the ability to focus our mind on the present situation and be free from distraction. This might sound like an easy thing to do, but in a world designed to distract us – it’s become a skill many of us may struggle with.

Imagine this for a moment. You are at work and you need to accomplish a simple task. This could be an admin job; something you can easily manage, therefore it is ripe for distractions and delays.

Many people would not sit there and complete it immediately. Not without glancing at their phones a few times; or allowing our mind to wander off and begin worrying about something else entirely.

That requires a certain level of discipline and focus that can be massively enhanced by developing your ability to be more mindful.

This lack of concentration is not entirely our fault. The world around us is designed to grab our attention, and manipulate us with a barrage of mixed messages and meanings.

Our minds have not yet adapted to this overstimulation and unfortunately, there are consequences. Yes, it makes getting simple tasks completed harder but actually on a deeper level, it’s this tendency mind to wonder that leads to anxiety and stress.

Mindfulness is the ability to ignore those distractions and worries. It is the antidote to being overloaded, overwhelmed and unaware of what is going on around us. Mindfulness is the foundation upon which we can bring peace back into our lives. Fortunately, with practice, all of us possess the capacity to be more mindful.

5 ways mindfulness can help you:

  1. Dealing with stressful situations. Learning how to focus your mind can be fantastic for taking a step back and understanding a situation properly. Instead of reacting immediately to something that has flustered you, take a moment to breathe and explore the evidence and reasons behind the situation. Notice what you are making the situation mean. Drop the story and get completely present and a lot of upset and frustration falls away.
  2. Spark creativity & innovation. By equipping ourselves with another tool to process thought effectively, our mind is free to explore new avenues and ideas to problems we thought impossible to overcome. This naturally leads to paths we may never have considered before.
  3. Healthier lifestyle. Mindfulness is a way of life. Once your mind is trained and aware of the benefits mindfulness brings, it can begin to influence your entire life. Everything is decision-based. From our negative habits to the people we spend our time with. Taking the time to understand why we do these things can lead to major positive changes in our lives.
  4. Our career. Possessing a mechanism to process and understand new tasks, as well as deal with the stress this creates, is vital for all of us. It can help prevent burnout as well as make more effective at our jobs. We are more resilient, focused, effective and efficient. These skill sets make us way more likely to be successful.
  5. Our relationships. People are complex. Too many of us rely on our immediate emotional responses to understand and process a situation that involves somebody else’s emotions and complexities. From personal relationships to those at work; taking a step back, understanding others and being objective about our response will help us empathise, connect and resolve conflict and complications peacefully and effectively.


How can you become more mindful today?

FreeMind provides a wealth of mediation sessions that can help us reach an optimal state of mind. Once we are there, we can begin to understand and overcome any challenges we may be facing that day. And we can learn how to bring out the best from ourselves.

Here below is a very simple 4 step you can follow right now to become more mindful this very moment. Try it now and see how it improves your day:

  1. Be still. Learning how to be still in your day is the first step to becoming more mindful. In a world that celebrates busyness and speed, finding a comfortable position to sit in and then becoming still is one of the best ways to experience mindfulness. Experiment today by sitting somewhere peaceful, slowing your breathing, and closing your eyes.
  2. Be okay with what is happening. Allowing yourself to embrace the moment and letting go of any judgements, frustrations or feelings that anything is wrong. Taking time to simply allow life to be as it is, is a key part of mindfulness. Ultimately it is all about dropping any resistance to your experience. Mindfulness is not an exotic phenomenon, it is a state of accepting presence that you already possess.
  3. Pay attention to how it makes you feel. Don’t allow your mind to wander away. This is not about going away to some far away place. It is about being here and now experiencing fully how it feels to be still and allowing things to be as they are. Be curious and simply let yourself notice how peace is moving through your body.
  4. Add a very subtle smile. Mindfulness does not need to be serious. As you are sitting try to smile an almost imperceivable smile and notice how that very gently lifts the spirits and changes the whole experience. Mindfulness is a positive addition to your day, so make sure you give yourself every chance to enjoy it by adding this final element.

Follow these 4 steps and sit for just 5 minutes and see how it gently brings your best to life.