How Can We Get Better At Being Mindful?

What does it mean to be mindful? If you have a wandering mind, live a fast-paced lifestyle, feel like you’re always rushing from one thing to the next, you could benefit from practicing mindfulness. I’m not talking about hours of silent meditation, I’m referring to taking 5–10 minutes out of your day to re-center and focus on the present.

Since we live in a fast-paced society, I find it hard to slow my brain down from time to time. Mindfulness to me is something that I have to actively work on to fully understand. I naturally move fast so it’s hard for me to slow down when I need to. Although I’ve always wanted to set aside more time into practicing mindfulness, I haven’t had the right opportunity to do so. Or maybe I’ve been pushing it off for too long.

The only time I’ve encountered something similar to mindfulness is through yoga classes I’ve taken in the past. I’ve taken classes that focus on the workout aspect of yoga, and I’ve taken classes that emphasize focusing on the breath. How can I get better at slowing my brain down so I can be more present? If you’re someone with a distractable mind like mine, you probably have wondered if mindfulness is something you can improve.

I understand why mindfulness is a practice. In our everyday lives, we’re expected to move fast, think fast, and work fast. Everything feels sped up so practicing mindfulness forces you to be in the present instead of thinking 5 steps ahead. So what exactly is mindfulness and what does it mean to be mindful?

Being mindful is basically having full control of your awareness of the present feelings, experiences, and emotions you’re currently going through. Using your senses or state of mind can bring you to this level of awareness that I think most people struggle with reaching, including myself. I have a hard time staying focused in the present moment when I typically think ahead out of habit.

Although mindfulness doesn’t seem difficult at face value, there’s a lot of things that can make the process more difficult. For instance, I sometimes push away or ignore certain emotions related to my own life when I feel upset. I tend to push them away because I either don’t want to deal with them or want to open up to others about my emotions. This can then cause me to build up repressed feelings which then puts me in a worse mood, negative outlook, and I’m more on edge.

When I’m actively trying to ignore my negative emotions towards something, I no longer have the ability to regulate those emotions. Mindfulness deals with practicing self-awareness so we can become better at recognizing, analyzing, and regulating our emotions so we can be more present and attentive.

I want to become more mindful because I know I need to be better at focusing my attention on slowing down, and healthily processing my emotions so I can become the best version of myself for others around me. As much as I enjoy living at a fast pace, I need to get better at slowing down. This is something I’m actively working on but it’ll definitely take time for it to become part of my routine.

Now that we’ve established what mindfulness is, and some of the roadblocks, what can we do day to day to practice mindfulness and self-awareness?

It’s important to recognize when your mind wanders and to not beat yourself up over it. Practicing bringing your thoughts and attention back to the present moment will take more time than you think. The article says to forgive your wandering mind, and also try not to judge yourself during the process.

A wandering mind can also lead to unwanted judgment from your inner critic. It’s important to recognize and make note of what those mental judgments are. Your inner critic can sometimes really affect how you’re able to be present when practicing mindfulness.

When I tried this out, I would set a timer for five minutes, I’d sit on the floor with my eyes closed, and I’d pay attention to how many times my mind would wander but also, count how many times I’d judge myself when I would let my mind wander.

Some of those judgments would stem from my imposter syndrome, comparing my life’s timeline to others, and picking apart my expectations of myself. Coming back to the present during these mindfulness sessions are hard, but it’s necessary to practice to be able to shake these negative thoughts faster.

Without practicing mindfulness, I could easily stay in the negative if I let my brain do so. With Mindfulness, I force myself to bring my attention back which eventually changes my train of thought.

What:

How:

The way I see mindfulness is that it can be another layer to help you from overthinking about things you don’t have control over. Mindfulness can be a tool to use to help you evaluate what’s important to you, what’s worth it, and what can you let go of.

When we start practicing mindfulness it doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to dedicate your entire life to practicing, but making those small efforts can make a long-term difference in how you see the world around you and yourself.

I’ll continue to practice mindfulness because I really like how it can be another way to practice grounding yourself in the present moment. I sometimes work myself up into a frenzy of worrying when I think too far ahead into my goals, expectations, and ideas of what my life should be like.

Effort counts no matter what. How you choose to practice and approach mindfulness is up to you. It’s safe to say we all could use some time to slow down and be more present.

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