Is time constantly spiraling out of your control? Chances are, you're living a life that is constantly out-pacing you. How do you slow down?
For most people, slowing down sounds like an impractical luxury. There's just way too much to do-- too many emails, appointments, work obligations, and familial responsibilities.
What if slowing down isn't about time but about the way we experience it?
By incorporating mindfulness into your daily schedule, you can find inner calm in small, beautiful moments that you simply weren't aware of earlier.
By expanding your awareness, you're expanding the time slots in your life.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is about engaging fully with the present.
Use your five senses to register your environment. Use your breathing or the colors around you to clear out intrusive thoughts. Use your power of concentration to focus on the moment you're currently alive in.
Our brains are malleable muscles that have an incredible capacity to adapt and change. By incorporating mindfulness exercises into your daily schedule, you can slowly train your mind to change the way it reacts with stress and focus.
The Benefits of Mindfulness
Full awareness of what you're doing, and of the space around you, is incredibly powerful. Grounding yourself in the moment can help you access a genuine sense of calm.
To break it down, here are a few concrete benefits to practicing mindfulness:
-- It can decrease your stress levels. According to some studies, meditation can reduce your body's secretion of the stress hormone, cortisol.
--It can increase your attention span. Mindfulness trains your mind to "stay in the moment" and focus on what's at hand. You can learn to choose what your mind will focus on.
--It can boost your resilience. Mindfulness trains your mind to observe and accept the emotions you're feeling, without fighting the experience. The ability to take a step back helps regulate your emotions and build resilience to emotional pain.
Thinking of trying mindfulness meditation but unsure where to begin? Below is a small list of resources that can help you begin.
grants you access to daily meditations, sleep stories, and relaxing music. It's a great resource for incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine.
encourages users to take a step back and refocus on what's important. The app includes mindfulness exercises, as well as individualized meditations and activities.
constructs an 8-week plan for cultivating mindfulness in a world that's increasingly frantic and stressful.