Mindfulness can be practiced in any activity. Some great places to add mindfulness are household chores, walking from the parking lot into the store and during meals. You can be mindful drinking your morning tea or coffee. You can even be mindful while brushing your teeth.
We often spend our days reacting to situations or operating on autopilot. The result of this is a disconnect between our minds and bodies. We shovel food into our mouths while checking emails or watching television instead of focusing on the tastes and flavors of the food. We check our smartphones while we’re walking to our next appointment or meeting instead of seeing the trees around us or the pictures on the walls or the people around us.
Multitasking is Harmful
A 2010 study by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London found that multitasking is harmful for your brain. Most of us instinctively know about the damaging effects of too many distractions. Science is finally confirming it. Splitting your focus too much can result in something not getting the attention that it needs. Cultivating mindfulness in any activity means stepping back from running on autopilot and doing exactly one thing at a time.
Identify Areas for Adding Mindfulness
The first step in doing activities mindfully is to identify where you catch yourself running on autopilot. Then after identifying some areas, choose one area to work on first. It is important to pick one thing to work on at a time. If you are overwhelmed, scattered and distracted, then you will lose your focus. When you work on one thing at a time, it helps to create a new habit of mindfulness in that activity. Just telling yourself that you’re going to be mindful at all times makes it tough to stick with the practice. Start small and build up to incorporating mindfulness in more activities as the practice becomes more natural for you.
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