Why spend being homebound in fear and stress, when you can actually make the most out of it. This is the perfect time to incorporate mindful practices into your life, which can help calm anxiety and be kind towards ourselves as well as others. Mindfulness is the non-judgmental awareness of breath, body, emotions, and thoughts. We all naturally possess mindfulness. It’s a simple human capacity to be fully present at the moment, become aware of who we are and what’s going around us. It doesn’t let your mind travel into the past or become anxious about the future, but instead, forces your mind to reel you back into the present.
Mindfulness can be practiced anytime during the day, but early morning, before everyone is awake, is a great time to be with yourself. It helps to set the tone for the day. Mindfulness doesn’t have to be elaborate, simple things like deep breathing, meditation, exercising, mindful drinking a cup of coffee, or whatever activity which you enjoy can be practiced. Here are some tips you can do daily to inculcate mindfulness into your life.
• Eat mindfully: Try to eat at least one meal a day just by and with yourself only. Just sit, relax, and be present at the moment. Savor your food with love and gratitude. Smell the food, feel the texture, enjoy every bite of it. Keep away your phone and switch off the gadgets. Don’t multitask.
• Listening to Music: Focus on the whole song, or listen specifically to the voice or the music strings, enjoy the moment.
• Breathe: Put one hand on your stomach and one hand on your chest. Relax your neck and shoulders. Slowly breathe in the cool air through your nose into your lungs (expand like a balloon) and slowly exhale (deflate) air through your mouth. Repeat this for 5 minutes. Focus on the experience. Feel the calmness in each breathe.
• Color something, blow Bubbles, or dance to your favorite song: Enjoy little things through the day, being fully aware of the activity.
• Let Go: With each breathes you take, let go of all the anger, frustration, anxiety, and stress. Forgive yourself and others. Feel the freedom and happiness in the experience.
Finally, when the world is inevitably chaotic, mindfulness brings us to the internal place of stillness. It would definitely help to keep cautious attention to unconscious reactions of stress and fear and treat you with infinite love, patience, compassion, and awareness.
Dr. Rimika Kapoor
JoyScore
