10 Ways To Live A More Mindful Lifestyle

Mindful living has been proven to improve people’s overall health and well-being. But a yoga or meditation or yoga retreat once a year, whilst great, is unlikely to help you live more in the moment for the rest of the year. That is why the key to living a more conscious and mindful life, is to try and live more mindfully every day and pay attention to the small moments.

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But what does mindful living mean? Well, it is about living with awareness and intention in the present moment. It is about paying attention to your feelings and actions so that you are able to live your happiest, most present life without being distracted by the flurry of chaos that lives rent-free in our heads. It is about being intentional and living authentically so that you can live in the moment and get the most from life.

So if you are looking to get started and learn to live a mindful lifestyle, we are here to help with some ways that you can become more mindful in your everyday life.

1. Try Mindfulness Therapies

Being mindful is all about paying attention to the moment, seeing where you are at with life, and what you have. The idea is to let go of future worries and past experiences. But this is something that is not always easy to do. It is, however, a skill that you can learn.

A great way to start learning about mindful living is to try out some different mindful therapies such as yoga or meditation. There are many different exercises you can use to ground yourself in the moment, such as simple breathing exercises. But to learn these and discover the mindful living therapies that fit best in your life, why not sign up for a beginner's yoga class? Or start learning meditation with a meditation app?

You will soon notice that you are able to use these practices in everyday life, to keep calm and stay in the moment.

2. Eat More Mindfully

What do we mean by mindful eating? Well, there are a few components to mindful eating that will help you enjoy your food more and help you develop a healthier relationship with the food you put in your body.

One great mindful eating habit to get into is to cook your own meals whenever you can - even if that means making something as quickly as a five-minute salad. By cooking your own food you are connecting with the food that you intend to eat and taking the time to choose your food.

To enjoy your food more mindfully you can eat slowly and savour it. Often we wolf down our food in five minutes whilst watching TV and don’t really allow ourselves to taste and savour our food. So try slowing it down, enjoy the sensation of the food, the texture, the flavour, and the temperature, and start to notice exactly what you are eating.

3. Exercise

Try exercising to relax your mind. Too often after a hard day at work, we get home, flop onto the couch and try “relaxing” by watching Netflix. This doesn’t actually relax your brain, instead, it fills it with input and distracts you from your other stresses.

Exercise, on the other hand, is proven to help lower your stress levels and relax your brain. So whilst it may be very difficult to force yourself to exercise after a long day, it is often the best thing you can do. It stops you from stressing about the past or future and allows you to live more in the present and take care of your needs now.

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4. Look Up When You Walk

Often when we are rushing to and from places in our busy lives we forget to look at the world around us when we walk. But if you look up whilst walking you will start to notice all these wonderful things around us, like the birds in the sky, or the interesting piece of graffiti you would never have noticed when looking down.

Tuning into the world around us at any given moment allows us to focus on the moment and be present in what we are doing. Instead of rushing to work with heads filled with the day ahead taking time to appreciate the world around you, whilst walking to work, can really help you feel connected to the world, and more present and help your overall well-being.

5. Embrace Mindful Drinking

The mindful drinking movement is a movement that helps people become more away of their alcohol intake. Becoming a mindful drinker can help you to drink more intentionally, succumb less to the pressure of drinking alcohol, and therefore keep your body healthier.

When you start drinking more mindfully it can help to notice when, where and who you are with when you feel the need to drink. You can then decide how much and when you would like to drink and set drinking goals. This way you are able to stay aware of your alcohol intake and only drink when you actually want to instead of when habit dictates.

6. Try a Digital Detox

In a hyper-digitalised world, we are constantly bombarded with so much information and communication. Constant text messages, phone calls, and endless social media feeds with videos and pictures that you really don’t need to see. It is a lot and means that you often don’t get much chance to sit back and truly relax or rest your mind and body.

Taking a digital detox, perhaps switching your phone off for a couple of hours every evening, or deleting social media, can be a great way to live more mindfully. This can help you avoid distractions and allow yourself to focus on living in the moment and spending more time on the things that you love.

7. Listen Actively To Others

Often in conversation, we think that we are listening to the other person, when in reality our mind is racing, filling in half of their story, and rushing to find the right response for the person. When living mindfully it is useful to focus on actively listening to what the other person has to say. Hear them out, and focus on what they are saying verbally and with their body language. Stay present and in the moment in the conversation. After all, it’s totally fine if there is a short silence before you reply whilst you decide what to say to them.

8. Practise Kindness

Practising kindness to everyone that you meet, and carrying out at least one act of kindness a day can help you live mindfully. It allows you to become aware of how you interact with others in the world and the consequences of your actions.

Kindness is also one of the best ways to create an authentic connection with others, so carrying out an act of kindness a day allows you to connect with the people around you, and ultimately lead a more intentional, caring and connected life.

9. Be Mindful of Small Moments

Mindful living is about living with awareness and intention, but so often we carry out tasks robotically or are in such a hurry that we are unable to take a moment to sit back and experience the present.

A great way to live more mindfully in the every day is to try and take small moments throughout the day to focus on being present. Be that through focusing on the sensation of the water as we wash our hands, enjoying the moment of being stopped and waiting at a red light, or taking in the smell of the flowers we pass by.

By taking a small moment to stop, focus on the moment and allow ourselves to notice what we are feeling, we can become more conscious of how we spend our time, or just get more pleasure out of the small things.

10. At The End of The Day Count Your Blessings

A great way to end your day when living mindfully is to take a moment before you go to sleep to count your blessings. Whether you write this down in a gratitude journal or just try and think of three things that made you happy or feel grateful for each day, it will allow you to really pay attention to the positive things in your life. Not only is this great for your sleep hygiene, it also teaches your brain to focus on the positives in your life, leading to a happier, healthier life.

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Mindful living is not something that comes naturally when you live in such a rushed and busy time. But by practising these mindful habits as much as possible you will notice that you become more aware of your habits and lifestyle, and are therefore more able to appreciate the moment and change the things you want so that you are living an intentional and mindful lifestyle.